Speeding up 'Safe Speed 5030'... Key to Alleviating Citizen Concerns and Establishing the System

Year-End Implementation of 50km/h Speed Limit in Major Urban Centers
Nationwide Expansion in April Next Year
Full Enforcement in Busan Leads to Reduced Traffic Fatalities
Concerns Over Traffic Congestion 'Unfounded'... System Establishment Including Signal Coordination

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Starting in December, the speed limit for driving in downtown areas of major cities will be lowered from 60 km/h to 50 km/h, accelerating the implementation of the government agencies' 'Safe Speed 5030' initiative. The key is to dispel misunderstandings held by citizens and to establish the system stably.

According to the National Police Agency on the 28th, the areas where the downtown speed limit has been adjusted to 50 km/h currently account for about 32% of roads nationwide. In Seoul, the speed limit inside the Four Major Gates was lowered to 50 km/h in 2018, and pilot operations are being conducted by applying it to central bus-only lanes, Namsan Sowol-ro, Guro G-Valley, and the Bangi-dong area. Major metropolitan downtown areas such as Busan, where the policy has already been fully implemented, as well as Seoul and Incheon, will implement it starting this December, and by April next year, the speed limits in downtown areas nationwide will be lowered.

It is well known that the severity of traffic accidents decreases after lowering the speed limit. In Busan, which has been implementing Safe Speed 5030 throughout the region since November last year, traffic accident fatalities decreased by 38% (from 40 to 25), and the number of unmanned enforcement cases also dropped by about 2% (from 1.67 to 1.64 cases). Incheon is also actively adopting 5030, with traffic accident fatalities decreasing by 41.2% compared to the previous year as of the first half of this year.

However, concerns have been raised about worsening traffic flow and taxi fare increases due to the lowered speed limits. Experts agree that in downtown areas, the signal system has a greater impact on traffic flow. Lee Jun, Associate Research Fellow at the Korea Transport Institute, explained, "By reducing stop times through signal coordination and responsive left-turn signals, traffic flow can remain smooth even with lowered speed limits," adding, "In traffic engineering, sudden deceleration is seen as a major cause of congestion, and lowering speed limits can also reduce this issue." In fact, a field study conducted by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority on 34 routes nationwide found that lowering the speed limit to 50 km/h increased travel time by an average of only 1.92 minutes.

The police plan to actively promote the Safe Speed 5030 policy by using Busan’s case and survey results to dispel citizens’ concerns and build consensus. A National Police Agency official stated, "We plan to strengthen communication by holding meetings with the transportation industry, which is greatly affected by speed limits," and added, "We will actively dispel concerns about congestion caused by the lowered speed limits."

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