Traffic Accidents Decrease... But Spring Season Fatality Rate Increases Every Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The proportion of fatalities from traffic accidents during the spring season has been increasing every year. This is because vehicle movement significantly increases during the holiday and farming seasons, but vigilance regarding safety, such as drowsy driving, tends to relax.

According to an analysis of traffic accidents over five years from 2015 to last year by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority on the 6th, out of the total 3,349 traffic accident fatalities last year, 842 people, or 25.1%, died during the spring months of March to May. Although the total number of traffic accidents occurring each year continues to decrease, the proportion of fatalities in spring has been rising, from 22.8% in 2017, 24.4% in 2018, to 25.1% last year.

In particular, an analysis of spring traffic accidents from 2016 to 2018 showed that fatalities caused by agricultural machinery and two-wheeled vehicles were notably higher compared to other seasons. The fatality rate for agricultural machinery during this period was 14.88%, which is 8.5 times higher than the overall traffic accident fatality rate of 1.76%. The fatality rate for two-wheeled vehicles was also 3.40%, 1.9 times higher than the average.

During spring, the proportion of fatalities involving cargo trucks due to inattention and drowsy driving was also found to be high. In April 2018, 22 people died in traffic accidents, of which 13, or 59%, were due to inattention and drowsy driving.

The Authority announced that it will implement a 'Special Traffic Safety Measure' to prepare for the increase in traffic accident fatalities caused by drowsy driving and other factors during the spring season.

First, to reduce drowsy driving, administrative sanctions will be strengthened against transportation companies that do not comply with rest time regulations. Additionally, the operation of the 'Highway Joint Inspection Team,' run jointly with the Highway Patrol and Korea Expressway Corporation, will be increased from once a month to twice a month to intensively crack down on cargo trucks.

Supervision of vehicles that have disabled their speed limiters will also be strengthened. The Authority plans to use speeding information from unmanned enforcement cameras of the National Police Agency to identify suspected vehicles with disabled devices and request monthly temporary inspection orders from the relevant local governments.

Regarding two-wheeled vehicles, which have a high number of traffic accident fatalities, the Authority will conduct joint crackdowns on illegal tuning of two-wheelers through vehicle safety inspectors in cooperation with the National Police Agency. While operating a traffic safety public reporting group, illegal acts such as signal violations by two-wheelers will also be detected. To reduce agricultural machinery accidents, 1,800 reflectors and 15,000 reflective stickers will be produced and distributed and attached to traffic accident-prone areas in cooperation with local governments, police stations, and other related agencies. Traffic safety broadcasts will also be conducted in some rural villages.

Kwon Byung-yoon, Director of the Authority, emphasized, "Drowsy driving occurs as fatigue accumulates with longer driving times, dulling speed perception or reducing vigilance." He stressed, "To prevent drowsy driving during the spring holiday season, drivers must take breaks at rest areas or drowsy driving shelters after driving for 1 to 2 hours."

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