90-year-old driver says, “I pressed the brake, but it didn’t work” ... 1 dead, 2 injured after car plows into motorcycle and taxi

[Financial News] A passenger car driven by a driver in his 90s hit a motorcycle and a taxi in succession near Children’s Grand Park in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, leaving one person dead and two injured.
Police said on the 12th that Seoul’s Gwangjin Police Station had booked and was investigating a 90-year-old man, identified as A, on suspicion of causing death under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents.
At around 11:50 a.m. that day, A hit a motorcycle and a taxi traveling ahead of him in succession while driving at the Children’s Grand Park intersection in Gwangjin-gu.
The motorcycle rider, who was in their 40s, was taken to a hospital in cardiac arrest but died. Two others, including the taxi driver and the rider of another motorcycle, were also injured.
The driver responsible for the crash was a 90-year-old man, who reportedly stated that, “I pressed the brake, but it didn’t work.”
According to the Korea Road Traffic Authority’s Traffic Accident Analysis System, drivers aged 65 or older were involved in 42,369 traffic accidents in 2024, accounting for 21.6% of the 196,349 traffic accidents overall.
The government is encouraging older drivers to voluntarily surrender their licenses, but the actual surrender rate remains low. Last year, just 2.2% of drivers aged 65 or older surrendered their licenses. Many need to drive to earn a living, and for older people living in areas with limited public transportation, surrendering a license effectively restricts their mobility.
Calls are also growing to expand the availability of accident-prevention devices, such as systems that prevent pedal misapplication and emergency braking systems.
[email protected] An Gaeul Reporter