Deaths from pedal misapplication up 3.4-fold in 5 years, with drivers over 60 behind 70% of crashes

Traffic accidents caused by pedal misapplication more than doubled over the past five years, while fatalities surged more than threefold, according to new research. With drivers aged 60 and older accounting for more than 70 percent of all cases, concerns are growing that the toll will continue to rise as South Korea's population ages.

Samsung Fire's Road Traffic Safety and Culture Research Institute released its analysis of pedal misapplication accident characteristics Thursday, drawing on 567 suspected cases reported in the media from January 2021 through December 2025.

Pedal misapplication accidents climbed from 66 in 2021 to 153 in 2025 — a roughly 2.3-fold increase — with an average annual growth rate of 23.4 percent. Over the same period, fatalities jumped 3.4-fold, from 15 to 51, meaning an average of 4.3 people died each month.

Drivers aged 60 and older were involved in 400 of the 567 cases, or 70.5 percent of the total — about three times the frequency of drivers under 60, who were involved in 136 cases. Older drivers also caused more harm per incident: casualties averaged 2.8 per accident, 33 percent higher than the 2.1 recorded for younger drivers. Over the five-year period, accidents involving drivers 60 and older resulted in 1,115 casualties, representing 77 percent of the total.

By location, crashes into restaurants, cafes and other commercial establishments were the most common, accounting for 96 cases, or 40.3 percent. Sidewalks and crosswalks — where pedestrian fatality rates are high — recorded a death rate of 48.2 percent. Commercial-premises crashes typically occurred at low speeds during parking or reversing maneuvers, but on pedestrian paths and back streets, drivers are believed to have panicked and kept pressing the accelerator, causing vehicles to gain speed.

International experience offers a cautionary note. Japan has equipped more than 93 percent of new vehicles with pedal misapplication prevention devices, yet elderly driver fatalities actually rose — from 60 in 2015 to 74 in 2024 — because most current systems activate only at speeds below 15 kilometers per hour and are ineffective while the vehicle is in motion. Britain's Transport Research Laboratory has classified pedal misapplication not as simple driver error but as a cognitive failure, and has proposed systemic countermeasures including pedal indicator lights and brake toggling systems.

In South Korea, the Korean National Police Agency, the General Insurance Association of Korea and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority last month completed a second round of pedal misapplication prevention device distribution, fitting 759 elderly drivers across major metropolitan cities with the technology.

"Pedal misapplication accidents are growing every year and taking a deadly toll on human life, making measures targeting elderly drivers extremely urgent," said Park Yo-han, a senior researcher at Samsung Fire's Road Traffic Safety and Culture Research Institute. "Beyond the acceleration suppression function for speeds below 8 kilometers per hour that is currently being considered for regulation, it is critical to equip vehicles with technology that can detect and control pedal misapplication in real time at medium and high speeds while the vehicle is in motion."