Traffic accidents rise more than 45% on the day before the Chuseok holiday, when holiday travelers and evening commuters hit the roads at the same time. Drivers heading home for the holiday will need to take extra care on Sept. 23, the day before this year's break begins.
Accidents totaled 4,842 on the day before the holiday, 45.3% more than the 3,332 recorded on ordinary days, according to an analysis of auto insurance bodily injury claims over the past five years from 2021 to 2025, released on the 20th by the Korea Insurance Development Institute and the General Insurance Association of Korea. The two groups attributed the increase to holiday travelers and commuters crowding onto roads at once. The heaviest concentration of victims came between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., accounting for 20.2% of the total.
On Chuseok day itself, the number of accidents falls but the damage from each one grows. Accidents were 18% below the ordinary-day level, yet each crash produced an average of 2.3 victims, 64.3% more than the usual 1.4. The institute said more people travel together with family and relatives on the holiday. Victims under the age of 18 made up 14.2% of the total, 2.2 times the ordinary-day share.
Longer stretches of congestion also raised the risk of rear-end collisions. Rear-end crashes accounted for 49.1% of all bodily injury accidents on Chuseok day, 10.4 percentage points higher than the ordinary-day figure of 38.7%. The Korea Insurance Development Institute pointed to drowsy driving and failure to keep a safe following distance.
Drivers who plan to share the wheel with family or friends on long trips should also check in advance who is covered under their auto policy. If someone outside the covered range of drivers will be behind the wheel, a short-term driver expansion rider can be used. Those driving someone else's car can turn to a rider covering the use of another vehicle, or to one-day auto insurance sold on a daily basis.
"Traffic volume surges over the Chuseok holiday and many people travel as families, so even a small lapse in attention can leave several people injured," an official at the Korea Insurance Development Institute said, urging drivers to take particular care.
