Elderly, Women Most Likely to Have Accidents in Parking Lots

Three out of 10 accidents in parking lots in Korea take place when drivers reverse their cars. The accident rate is especially high among the elderly and rookie drivers.

Women had a 1.6 times higher accident rate than men.

Lee Soo-il, a researcher for Hyundai Marine and Fire Insurance, analyzed 943,329 accidents in parking lots from 2010 to 2014.

He found that 31.1 percent of all accidents in parking spaces last year took place while the car was reversing. As reversing cars usually drive slowly in parking lots, most drivers and others in contact with the car sustained no major injuries.

People over 70 were most likely to have accidents at 7.1 percent. Young drivers followed with six percent, and those in their 60s came third with 5.1 percent.

Next were drivers in their 50s with 4.4 percent, those in their 30s at 3.8 percent, and people in their 40s with 3.5 percent.

Accidents in parking lots accounted for just four percent of the total accidents reported to car insurers but 8.4 percent reported by inexperienced drivers.

The overall parking accident rate for women was 7.1 percent, compared to men's 4.4 percent.