On the 27th, the Chungnam Autonomous Police Agency came up with customized measures to “prohibition” traffic accidents for the elderly. It is an appropriate direction in light of the weight of the issue that the Chungnam Autonomous Police focused on traffic accidents for the elderly. Not only Chungnam but also cities and provinces across the country are not free from traffic accidents for the elderly aged 65 or older. The analysis of traffic accidents by country in 2021 announced by the Korea Highway Traffic Authority last month proves. According to this, Korea’s elderly traffic accident mortality rate was the No. 1 among OECD member countries. This is because 19.8 deaths per 100,000 people were found. Compared to the OECD average of 7.6, it is a serious reality.
As can be seen from these statistics, measures against traffic accidents for the elderly have been on fire. Meanwhile, the Chungnam Provincial Police’s announcement of customized measures this time can be evaluated as an active response. It is also noteworthy that it said it used big data on traffic accidents in the process of establishing related measures. Big data is only dead data if it is not used while left unattended, but based on this, it becomes easier to establish policy alternatives by grasping and reading the meaning inherent in figures and statistics. The fact that the Chungnam Autonomous Police were able to derive various policy measures related to transportation measures for the elderly can be seen as a stepping stone for big data analysis. As a result, it was revealed that the proportion of elderly people among traffic accident deaths among the elderly in the province over the past three years was 46.5% (396 out of 851). Furthermore, it can be seen that the deaths of elderly pedestrians accounted for 38.4% of the total 152 deaths, and 55 people died while jaywalking, and 68 people died in accidents while riding a two-wheeled vehicle. The same is true of being able to rank the deaths against cities and counties in the province.
The Chungnam Autonomous Police’s measures against traffic accidents for the elderly can be said to be the result based on this, and there are signs of struggle in terms of content and composition. There is no reason to hesitate to combine and implement traffic safety promotional videos, expansion of traffic safety facilities, expansion of services for the elderly, promotion of the elderly driver’s license return system, and enactment of related ordinances by city and county. However, this much is also being implemented in other regions, so the freshness feels light. Efforts are required to take a half step ahead.