Vehicle Speed Limits in 'School Zones' Reduced to 30 km/h or Less by June This Year... Enhancing Children's Traffic Safety

Introduction of Safety Boarding and Alighting Zones 'Drop Zone' and Sudden Deceleration Prevention Zones 'Buffer Zone'

[Asia Economy Reporter Osangdo] The government is lowering the vehicle speed limit in so-called 'school zones,' designated child protection areas, to 30 km/h or less. In zones where lanes and sidewalks are not separated, the speed limit will be further tightened to 20 km/h or less.

On the 7th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced the 'Measures to Strengthen Traffic Safety in Child Protection Zones' at the first Cabinet meeting of the year, presided over by President Moon Jae-in. This measure is interpreted as being influenced by the tragic accident last September in a school zone that claimed the life of the late Kim Minsik. Thanks to this accident, the so-called 'Minsik Act' passed the National Assembly, increasing public interest in child traffic safety.

The government plan also includes increasing fines for illegal parking and stopping, the introduction of 'drop zones'?dedicated safe boarding and alighting areas for children?and 'buffer zones' to prevent sudden deceleration.

First, the vehicle speed on all roads within school zones will be lowered to 30 km/h or less by the first half of this year. In cases where the road is narrow and it is difficult to provide separate sidewalks, the speed limit will be reduced to 20 km/h or less. The current Road Traffic Act stipulates that the speed limit in school zones "may be restricted to within 30 km/h," but as of the first half of last year, among 16,789 school zones, 588 zones (3.5%) had speed limits of 40 km/h or higher.

Fines and penalties for illegal parking and stopping within school zones will be increased from twice (80,000 KRW) to three times (120,000 KRW) the amount for general roads. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to revise the enforcement decree of the Road Traffic Act within this year to implement this adjustment.

Additionally, dedicated drop zones will be introduced where children can safely get on and off vehicles. Furthermore, buffer zones will be established to ensure vehicles reduce their speed to 40 km/h or less before entering school zones.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to strengthen regulations so that all vehicles must come to a complete stop at crosswalks without traffic lights within school zones. All 281 illegal roadside parking lots remaining in school zones will be removed within this year, and resident reporting of illegal parking within school zones will be expanded.

The Ministry aims to reduce the number of child traffic accident fatalities in school zones from 8 in 2017 and 3 in 2018 to 'zero' by 2022, and to lower the traffic accident fatality rate per 100,000 children from 1.1 in 2016 to 0.6 by 2024. Through these efforts, safety is expected to improve from the 20th rank to around 7th among OECD countries.

Minister Jin Young of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said, "We have prepared these measures after gathering opinions from various fields to ensure that tragic incidents like the accident involving Kim Minsik no longer occur."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.