<Reason for Proposal and Key Contents>

Under the current law, individuals who have obtained a driver’s license are required to undergo a regular fitness test after a certain period of time for license renewal. Additionally, if a person falls under the category of having acquired physical disabilities or other conditions that may impair safe driving, they are required to undergo an additional fitness test to assess their driving ability.

However, as seen in the case of the vehicle collision incident at Kkaebi Market in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul in December 2024, individuals with cognitive disabilities are at an increased risk of traffic accidents due to symptoms such as impaired judgment, loss of directional sense, and slower reaction times. Currently, the regular and additional fitness tests for assessing driving ability do not include evaluations of cognitive function, and cognitive disabilities are not included as a reason for undergoing a fitness test. Therefore, there has been a suggestion to improve this system.

To address this, the proposal includes the inclusion of cognitive function tests in the regular and additional fitness tests and lists cognitive disabilities as an example of mental disorders that can cause traffic hazards or obstacles, which is one of the disqualifying conditions for evaluating driving ability in fitness tests. This aims to create a safer road traffic environment (new provisions in Article 82, Paragraph 1, Item 2; Article 87, Paragraph 2; and Article 88, Paragraph 1).

Imposing an obligation to include a cognitive function test as part of the regular fitness examination for Class 1 driver's license holders (New Article 89, Paragraph 2 and Article 88, Paragraph 1).