Trusted Buses and Taxis, Yet Over Four Drunk Driving License Revocations a Day

Analysis of Data Submitted by Korea Transportation Safety Authority, Jung Ilyoung's Office Says
1,604 Cases Last Year... Number of Taxi Driver Disqualifications More Than Doubled in One Year

There are more than four cases per day in which public transportation drivers are caught driving under the influence and have their qualifications as transportation workers revoked. However, it has been found that the authorities in charge merely pass on notifications after the fact, without knowledge of the drivers' prior records of drunk driving, effectively acting as bystanders.

Police are conducting a drunk driving crackdown near an elementary school in Sangam-dong, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo

According to materials submitted by Assemblyman Jung Ilyoung, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, which were provided by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, there were 1,604 cases of bus and taxi driver qualifications being revoked due to drunk driving last year. This is an increase of 738 cases (85.2%) compared to 866 cases in 2024. In other words, an average of 4.4 transportation workers per day were caught driving on the road while being intoxicated to the level of license revocation or suspension.

Taxi driver disqualifications more than doubled, from 625 cases in 2024 to 1,312 cases last year, a 109.9% increase. For buses, the figure rose from 241 to 292 cases during the same period, a 21.2% rise. Last year, there was an average of 4.4 revocations of driving qualifications per day.

As of August this year, there have been a total of 959 revocations of qualifications, including 740 for taxis and 219 for buses. From 2022 up to August of this year, there have been a cumulative total of 5,341 cases, of which taxis accounted for 4,272, or 80%.

According to Assemblyman Jung's office, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority receives information on the revocation and suspension of transportation workers’ driver's licenses from the National Police Agency and notifies local governments. However, they are unable to check whether a driver has a prior record of being penalized for drunk driving.

The Korea Transportation Safety Authority explained, "Administrative action regarding driver's licenses falls under the jurisdiction of the National Police Agency, so we cannot check the status of repeat offenses or re-arrests." It was also found that there are no statistics that show whether the same transportation company repeatedly produces drunk drivers.

Assemblyman Jung's office pointed out that, with the current data, it is difficult to distinguish between first-time cases, repeat offenses, or repeated occurrences at specific companies. Assemblyman Jung stated, "Because this is a matter directly tied to public safety, we must first accurately determine what has led to this increase," adding, "The National Police Agency, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, and local governments need to share necessary information and establish a management system that enables the identification of repeat offenders and company-specific occurrences."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.