Gwangju Police, All-Out Effort to Prevent Motorcycle Traffic Accidents

Intensive Crackdown Until the 17th... Promotion Including Delivery Company Training and Reflective Sticker Attachment

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] On the 30th of last month, two motorcycle traffic accidents occurred in one day at Baegun Overpass in Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, resulting in the deaths of a man in his 20s and a man in his 80s. Recently, motorcycle accidents have been occurring one after another in the Gwangju area.

Accordingly, the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency (Chief Choi Gwanho) has decided to mobilize maximum available police forces to conduct intensive motorcycle crackdowns until the 17th to prevent accidents.

According to the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency on the 7th, a total of four motorcycle traffic fatal accidents occurred from January 1 to April 30 this year.

This is significantly higher compared to zero motorcycle traffic fatal accidents during the same period last year.

Accordingly, during the intensive crackdown period, the Gwangju police plan to strictly respond to major motorcycle law violations with a zero-tolerance policy.

Focused crackdowns will be conducted on major law violations such as running red lights, crossing the center line, and not wearing helmets, especially in accident-prone and habitual violation areas.

Additionally, traffic police, traffic motorcycles, and the mobile unit will be mobilized to select wide-ranging areas as crackdown locations, carrying out visible enforcement activities to fully prevent motorcycle traffic accidents and fatalities.

On weekends and holidays, traffic motorcycles will also be deployed for powerful patrols and enforcement activities to actively respond to some motorcycle drivers’ traffic law violations.

Since the start of this intensive crackdown on the 27th of last month until the 5th, a total of 935 cases have been enforced. Not wearing helmets accounted for the most with 636 cases, followed by running red lights with 175 cases, unsafe driving violations with 31 cases, crossing the center line with 29 cases, and others with 64 cases.

Meanwhile, local police stations and substations will also actively participate in motorcycle enforcement activities during the intensive crackdown period.

When 112 patrol cars find motorcycles without helmets or suspected of drunk driving while patrolling back roads and alleys, they will actively enforce the law.

The police expect that by cooperating with local police in motorcycle enforcement, crackdowns will be possible not only during late-night hours but throughout the entire Gwangju area, minimizing enforcement blind spots.

For motorcycles that flee during enforcement, the police will identify the vehicle number and company through camcorder footage and visit directly to impose fines and penalty points on traffic law violators.

To promote public reporting of traffic law violations by motorcycles, promotional activities will be continuously carried out.

For acts that threaten the safety of pedestrians and drivers, such as running red lights and riding on sidewalks, citizen public reports will be actively encouraged using black boxes from commercial vehicles like buses and taxis. Promotion will be strengthened through TBN, VMS (35 locations), and banners to encourage public reporting via the Smart National Reporting app and website.

Meanwhile, the police plan to raise awareness that illegal acts by motorcycles can be enforced anytime and anywhere through citizen reports as well as police crackdowns, thereby encouraging lawful driving among motorcycle drivers.

In addition, protective activities to prevent motorcycle traffic accidents will continue year-round alongside the intensive crackdown.

Traffic department heads and section chiefs from each police station visit delivery service companies directly to hold meetings and provide education for motorcycle traffic safety. In cooperation with Gwangju City and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, fluorescent reflective stickers have been produced and attached to motorcycle delivery boxes.

Out of a total of 41 delivery service companies and about 1,300 riders in the Gwangju area, meetings have been completed with 23 companies and 62 riders, and 6,000 fluorescent reflective stickers have been produced with 1,741 stickers attached.

A Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency official said, “Due to the surge in delivery food orders from social distancing during the COVID-19 situation, the increase in motorcycle delivery operations, and warmer weather, motorcycle traffic volume has increased, resulting in four consecutive motorcycle traffic fatal accidents in the Gwangju area last month alone. Therefore, we have decided to operate an intensive motorcycle crackdown period.” He added, “Since local police are also actively participating during this intensive crackdown period, we expect the culture of lawful motorcycle driving to spread and motorcycle traffic accidents to decrease.”

He continued, “To prevent motorcycle traffic accidents, it is most important for motorcycle drivers themselves to be aware of the need to comply with traffic laws.” He emphasized, “Safe driving according to traffic laws, such as wearing helmets and obeying signals, is necessary not to avoid enforcement but to protect one’s own safety.”

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