On the 20th of last month in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, a vehicle driven by a man in his eighties rushed into a street food tent, injuring the driver himself and three customers. On the same day in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, a driver in his forties, while exiting a parking lot, sped into a first-floor clothing store across the street. The next day in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, a sedan driven by a man in his sixties crashed into a restaurant after he mistakenly pressed the accelerator while entering a parking lot.

Crashes caused by confusing the accelerator for the brake have more than doubled over the past five years. Deaths have surged more than threefold. As such crashes are increasing among older adults with declining cognitive abilities, there are calls for the urgent rollout of ‘pedal misoperation prevention devices’.

According to the report released on the 4th titled ‘Analysis results on the key characteristics of major pedal misoperation crashes’ by the Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Traffic Safety Culture Research Institute, which analyzed 567 suspected pedal misoperation crashes reported by the media from 2021 to 2025, the number of crashes increased from only 66 in 2021 to 153 in 2025, about 2.3 times. Over the same period, the number of deaths jumped 3.4 times, from 15 to 51.

In particular, 70% of pedal misoperation crashes occurred when the driver was age 60 or older. The danger posed by pedal misrecognition crashes caused by those 60 and above was markedly higher than that of general traffic crashes. The number of fatalities in pedal misrecognition crashes caused by drivers 60 and older (1.42 people) was 37% higher than in general traffic crashes (1.03 people).

The damage from such crashes was concentrated mainly in commercial facilities such as restaurants and cafes and on sidewalks near crosswalks. The share of fatalities was highest on sidewalks and crosswalks with heavy foot traffic (48.2%). It is presumed that crashes into shops mainly occurred during low-speed maneuvers such as parking or reversing, whereas crosswalk crashes tended to take place at higher speeds.

Senior researcher Park Yo-han said, “Pedal misoperation crashes are increasing every year in a deadly form, making measures for older drivers extremely urgent,” adding, “It is urgent to equip vehicles with ‘mid·high-speed driving pedal misoperation prevention technology’ that detects and controls pedal misoperation in real time even while driving to minimize injury when a crash occurs.”

In fact, analysis of driving data from last year for the pedal misoperation prevention device project carried out by the National Police Agency and the General Insurance Association of Korea showed that these devices blocked 71 instances of pedal misrecognition, such as abnormal acceleration, over three months among 141 older drivers.

Park added, “Even before the technology is settled through legal institutionalization, government purchase support policies such as subsidies and tax incentives should be prepared swiftly so that distribution can be expanded first to older adults.”