"Prioritizing Pedestrian Safety"...Jongno-gu's All-Out Effort to Prevent Traffic Accidents

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu (District Mayor Kim Young-jong) is making every effort to create a safe road environment centered on pedestrians in line with the Safe Speed 5030 policy, which lowers urban speed limits, to prevent traffic accidents involving children.

So far, the district has continuously consulted with Seoul City, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and others to prevent traffic fatalities. In 2016, it implemented the ‘Traffic Safety Facility Installation and Pilot Project,’ which included lowering the speed limit to 30 km/h on all roads in the Bukchon area and roads around the Seoul Police Agency, along with the installation of traffic safety signs and road surface markings.

Additionally, the speed limit reduction policy was applied to residential roads (Donuimun 1 District, Pyeongchang-dong, Gugi-dong, Hyehwa-dong, Changsin-dong, and Sungin-dong side streets) and major arterial roads (Jongno, Samil-daero, Donhwamun-ro, Cheonggyecheon-ro).

This year, to expand safety measures such as pedestrian safety facilities and improvements to signal operation systems, Jongno and Hyehwa Police Stations, the Road Traffic Authority, and others will operate a ▲Safe Speed 5030 working council and establish a close cooperation system.

Also, following the speed limit reduction, they plan to ▲maintain traffic safety facilities and ▲carry out maintenance work on safety signs and road surface markings.

Furthermore, targeting school zones, they will promote ▲the expansion of traffic safety facility installations and roll up their sleeves to create safe school routes.

Since 2018, the district has been replacing school zone entry guide signs with solar-powered LED signs and completed the replacement of all facilities around elementary schools in March 2020.

This was based on the understanding that ensuring drivers clearly recognize when they enter a school zone is a very important factor in preventing traffic accidents involving children, and aimed to greatly improve the visibility of signs indicating the start of the protection zone.

This year, in accordance with the recently revised Road Traffic Act (known as the ‘Min-sik Law’) following a tragic child traffic accident last year, new speed enforcement cameras will be installed in school zones. They will be first installed in 10 elementary school zones selected comprehensively based on frequent accident areas and accident history.

Moreover, a Driver Feedback Sign (DFS), which displays the vehicle’s current speed to drivers to raise awareness and reduce speed, will be installed at all elementary schools in the area.

District Mayor Kim Young-jong stated, “We have continuously identified inconvenient areas for residents to provide a pleasant traffic environment and have worked to improve road conditions and secure the safety of children’s school routes. This year as well, we will prioritize pedestrian safety, strive to prevent accidents, and implement policies to enhance residents’ convenience.”

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