Seoul City Reports Zero Child Traffic Accident Deaths One Year After 'Minsik Law' Implementation... High-Intensity Measures Activated

Complete Abolition of 48 Illegal Street Parking Lots with 417 Spaces... Absolute Ban on Illegal Parking and Strict Enforcement
Strengthened Special Measures to Achieve Zero Fatal and Serious Accidents in School Zones by 2022

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 27th that it has successfully implemented various high-intensity measures, including the complete abolition of illegal roadside parking in front of schools one year after the enforcement of the ‘Minsik Law’ and the installation of speed enforcement cameras throughout the city, reducing the annual child fatality accidents in school zones to '0 (zero)'.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, child fatality accidents in Seoul’s school zones were 2 cases in 2019, but none occurred last year, and the number of accidents also decreased by 45%, from 114 cases in 2019 to 62 cases last year.

One month before the enforcement of the Minsik Law, in February last year, the city established a comprehensive plan for school zones and completely abolished all 417 illegal roadside parking spaces operating in front of all elementary schools in Seoul.

Additionally, these areas were designated as absolute no illegal parking zones with strict enforcement, and to achieve 100% installation of speed enforcement cameras nationwide by the first half of this year, 24-hour monitoring has already been conducted at two out of three schools last year.

To create school zones free not only of fatal accidents but also serious injuries by next year, the city is currently thoroughly diagnosing the causes of accidents that occurred last year and conducting professional analyses on the effectiveness of improvements. It plans to research and develop measures and projects that citizens can feel directly. Furthermore, before the new school term, the city will continue to promote policies by closely cooperating with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and 25 autonomous districts to establish a comprehensive plan.

Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, said, “We will continue to prepare more thorough measures to eradicate all factors threatening children’s pedestrian safety, such as speeding and illegal parking,” adding, “We will create school zones as pedestrian spaces not only for children but also for the elderly and vulnerable road users, making school routes safe and secure for everyone.”

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