pardon traffic violations and increase accidents

 

DECEMBER 21, 2012

South Korea's Mass Pardons of Traffic Offenders Led to More Accidents

Since 1995, four presidents of South Korea have issued mass pardons to drivers who had lost their licenses because of drunk driving, vehicular homicide, and other violations. About 24.6 million people, more than 10% of the country's population, have benefited from these populist gestures, but the pardons increased traffic accidents by an average of 4.3% in the subsequent years, says a team led by Youngsun Kwon of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Arbitrary and irrelevant pardons can be considered an abuse of clemency power, the researchers suggest.

Source: Estimating the costs of political populism: Traffic violation pardons in Korea