PURPOSES: The purpose of this study is to evaluate and improve the potential risk of road cave-ins due to subsurface cavities based on the deflection ratio measured with light falling weight deflectometer (LFWD) tests. METHODS : A cavity database for Seoul was developed and sorted. LFWD tests based on the database were conducted on pavement sections with and without road cavities detected by ground-penetrating radar (GPR) tests; after excavating the area, the cavity sizes were measured. The deflection ratio was applied and analyzed by cavity management grade methods of Japan and Seoul. RESULTS : The results of comparative analysis show that the deflection method can detect road cavities in areas of the narrow road (or in narrow areas of the road). The average deflection ratio of the cavity sections to the robust sections were 2.48 for high-risk cavities, 1.85 for medium-risk level cavities, and 1.49 for low-risk cavities. Risk levels in Japan and Seoul were reclassified according to the deflection ratios. CONCLUSIONS : LFWD test results can be applied to verify and improve the subsurface cavity risk level by comparing maximum deflection and deflection ratio between cavity area and non-cavity area at the loading center. LFWD devices also have more advantages compared with larger NDT(Nondestructive test) because FWD and GPR encounter difficulties in traffic control and they could not get in a narrow roads.