Gyeonggi-do Invests 71.2 Billion KRW to Expand Safety Facilities on Children's School Routes

[Asia Economy (Uijeongbu) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will invest 71.2 billion won this year to expand safety facilities on children's school routes.

On the 7th, Gyeonggi Province held an online press conference at the Northern Office of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government in Uijeongbu City and announced the 'Gyeonggi Province Safe School Route Creation Plan.'

According to this plan, the province will invest a total of 51.2 billion won in improving safety facilities on school routes. The main projects include expanding the installation of traffic safety facilities within school zones, maintaining school routes outside school zones, supporting traffic safety within apartment complexes, strengthening safety standards for school routes during large-scale complex developments, and preparing safe school route designs.

To this end, the province will install 390 speed enforcement cameras and 453 traffic lights within school zones and improve facilities at 171 protected zones. Additionally, safety facilities such as anti-slip pavement, road surface markings, and illegal parking prevention devices will be expanded.

Yellow traffic lights and continuous speed bumps within school zones will also be installed to help drivers easily recognize school zones.

The province will also prepare measures to improve risk factors on roads within apartment complexes, which are blind spots for traffic safety.

When selecting elementary school locations within large complexes, the province plans to recommend to the government to strengthen legal standards and educational environment evaluation criteria to secure school route safety. Furthermore, the '7 Principles for Creating Child Safe School Routes' by the Green Umbrella Children's Foundation will be applied when creating school routes.

The province will invest 17.6 billion won to improve traffic safety awareness.

First, police officers will be invited as instructors to conduct safety awareness education for children at 1,286 elementary schools, and 'safety umbrellas' will be provided to 133,650 first graders to improve drivers' visibility.

Traffic safety education for kindergartens, daycare centers, and elementary schools, as well as bicycle education for 150,000 elementary and middle school students, will also be conducted.

The province plans to appoint about 5,000 elderly participants in this year's projects as 'School Zone Traffic Guardians' by utilizing senior job programs to ensure the safety of children going to and from school.

The province will also invest 2.4 billion won to create school surroundings free from harmful environments.

Park Il-ha, Director of the Construction Bureau of the province, said, "We will promote the project with the goal of realizing 'a safe Gyeonggi Province for children's school commutes,' and this year, along with building traffic safety infrastructure, we will carry out various activities such as education, campaigns, and institutional improvements to enhance safety awareness."

Meanwhile, 2,500 to 3,000 children's traffic accidents occur annually in Gyeonggi Province.

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