Gwangju Police Focus on Strengthening Safety Measures in Child Protection Zones

Full Implementation of 30km/h Speed Limit in All School Zones

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency (Chief Choi Gwan-ho) announced on the 24th that it will focus on implementing safety measures to significantly strengthen safety in children's protection zones.

This is in accordance with the enforcement of the revised Article 12 of the Road Traffic Act (commonly known as the Min-sik Act) to ensure children's traffic safety.

First, in line with the purpose of the revised Road Traffic Act for children's safety, all elementary school children's protection zones will enforce a speed limit of 30 km/h.

The Gwangju police lowered the speed limit from 50 km/h, which was operated on main roads for traffic flow, to 30 km/h in 13 elementary school children's protection zones.

As a result, all 157 elementary school children's protection zones in Gwangju city have completed the reduction of the speed limit to 30 km/h.

Additionally, for children's protection zones located on roads with a 60 km/h speed limit (such as Songwon Elementary School and 4 other locations), gradual deceleration using buffer zones was induced to prevent sudden deceleration at the boundary areas of the protection zones.

Second, additional traffic signals will be installed at crosswalks within children's protection zones.

The revised Road Traffic Act stipulates that traffic signals must be installed at crosswalks on main roads closest to the main entrances of facilities designated as children's protection zones.

Currently, 100% of crosswalk traffic signals on main roads near elementary schools in Gwangju city are installed, but additional signals will be installed to further strengthen child protection.

By last month, a full survey of elementary school children's protection zones was conducted, and 26 locations at 17 elementary schools were selected for additional signal installation, which is planned for the first half of this year.

Furthermore, for children's protection zones such as kindergartens, excluding elementary schools, improvements will be planned for the second half of the year after on-site inspections.

Third, in accordance with the revised law, unmanned traffic enforcement equipment will be installed within children's protection zones.

A total of 99 unmanned traffic enforcement devices will be added to 98 children's protection zones in the Gwangju area.

Installation locations were selected mainly around elementary schools, and efforts will be made to install the unmanned traffic enforcement equipment as soon as possible.

A representative of the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency said, “Together with the Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall, we will do our best to implement the measures according to the revised Road Traffic Act to create a safe commuting environment for children.”

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