Kim Tae-jin, Gwangju Seo-gu Council Member: "Seo-gu Must Make Greater Efforts in Traffic Safety Policies"

Korea Transportation Safety Authority '2020 Traffic Culture Index Survey Data' Analysis

The Only C Grade in the Region... Dropped from 2nd Place in 2019 to 30th in 2020

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Voices have emerged emphasizing the urgent need for increased efforts regarding traffic safety in Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City.

On the 29th, according to data from the Korea Transportation Safety Authority's '2020 Traffic Culture Index Survey' presented by Kim Taejin, a member of the Gwangju Seo-gu Council, last year the traffic culture index of Gwangju citizens was 83.56 points, higher than the national average of 80.34 points across 69 autonomous districts. However, except for Dong-gu and Buk-gu, Seo-gu, Nam-gu, and Gwangsan-gu saw a decline in scores compared to the previous year.

Looking at each autonomous district, Buk-gu's traffic culture index was 85.89 points, ranking 3rd among 69 districts nationwide, and it was the only district in the region to receive an A grade. Following were Nam-gu (84.09 points), Gwangsan-gu (82.95 points), Dong-gu (82.79 points), and Seo-gu (82.02 points), with Seo-gu being the only district to receive a C grade.

By category, in driving behavior (55 points), Buk-gu scored 50.48 points, Nam-gu 48.31 points, Seo-gu 47.47 points, Gwangsan-gu 46.42 points, and Dong-gu 46.33 points, all higher than the national average of 46.21 points for autonomous districts.

In pedestrian behavior (20 points), Nam-gu scored 17.40 points, Buk-gu 17.20 points, Dong-gu 17.13 points, Seo-gu 16.77 points, and Gwangsan-gu 16.41 points, with Gwangsan-gu being the only district below the national average of 16.72 points.

In traffic safety (20 points), Gwangsan-gu scored 20.13 points, Dong-gu 19.32 points, Nam-gu 18.37 points, Buk-gu 18.21 points, and Seo-gu 17.51 points, all above the national average of 17.40 points.

In Dong-gu, the driver's compliance rate with traffic signals and the helmet-wearing rate of motorcycle passengers were 11.28 points and 5.32 points respectively, the lowest in Gwangju and below the national average for autonomous districts.

In Seo-gu, among the seven areas indicating local government efforts in traffic safety, four areas fell below the national average. Notably, Seo-gu ranked lowest among Gwangju’s five autonomous districts in securing local government traffic safety expertise, implementation of local traffic safety policies, securing local government traffic safety budget efforts, and management level of local government commercial vehicle safety.

In Nam-gu, the frequency of smart device use while driving was the lowest in Gwangju at 1.11 points, below the national average of 1.23 points for autonomous districts.

In Buk-gu, the number of traffic accident fatalities per commercial vehicle and road length scored 1.28 points, the lowest in Gwangju and below the national average for autonomous districts.

In Gwangsan-gu, the driver's compliance rate with pedestrian crosswalk stop lines and pedestrian smart device usage while crossing the crosswalk were 5.84 points and 4.04 points respectively, both lower than the national averages of 6.30 points and 4.19 points.

Councilor Kim Taejin said, “Although Gwangju’s traffic culture index is high, a notable feature is the frequent use of smart devices by drivers. This is a very high risk factor for causing traffic accidents, and it is more necessary than ever to address the problems related to traffic accidents caused by smart device use while driving and to strengthen local government’s commitment and efforts to improve.”

He added, “Seo-gu’s fall from 2nd place in 2019 among 69 autonomous districts nationwide to 30th place is due to the consistently low evaluations of the district’s efforts related to traffic safety.”

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