Daejeon City Strengthens Pedestrian-Centered Traffic Policy... 'Safe Speed 5030' to be Implemented Next Month

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon City is stepping up efforts to strengthen pedestrian-centered traffic policies.

On the 29th, the city announced that it will promote 20 projects under 10 major tasks to create a "City Prioritizing Pedestrian Safety." A total budget of 124.2 billion KRW will be invested in these projects.

First, to fundamentally prevent jaywalking accidents, the city plans to install anti-jaywalking fences and pedestrian protective barriers along a 27 km section of the downtown area, and to complete the installation of intersection light towers and focused crosswalk lighting by the first half of next year to prevent nighttime traffic accidents.

Additionally, elevated crosswalks will be installed at 130 traffic islands where the risk of pedestrian accidents has increased due to higher speeds of right-turning vehicles, to reduce vehicle speed.

Along with this, to create walkable pedestrian paths, the city will enact the "Ordinance on Pedestrian Safety and Convenience Enhancement (tentative name)" to operate a Pedestrian Environment Evaluation Committee, establish a "Wondosim Pedestrian Special Zone" benchmarked after the Deoksugung pedestrian-only street, create "Fun Walkways" featuring trick art, and develop the pedestrian-only street "Eoulcham Street" which operates unique programs by day of the week.

Most importantly, the city will establish a dedicated department for pedestrian and bicycle traffic safety policies and commission a study on pedestrian traffic improvement plans to prepare directions for revitalizing pedestrian traffic in the region.

Starting from the 17th of next month, in line with the nationwide implementation of "Safe Speed 5030," the speed limits on all urban roads in Daejeon will be lowered to 50 km/h or less. Safe Speed 5030 was enacted by amending the Road Traffic Act in April 2019 to reduce traffic accident fatalities, with a two-year grace period before enforcement.

According to the revised Road Traffic Act, wide city roads in residential, commercial, and industrial areas will have a speed limit of 50 km/h, while side streets in residential areas and roads emphasizing pedestrian safety such as school zones will be limited to 30 km/h.

However, certain roads including ▲Gapcheon Urban Expressway (Mannyeon Underpass to Munye Underpass), ▲Hanbat-daero (Deokmyeong 4-ga to Gapcheon Bridge 4-ga), ▲Yuseong-daero (Hannam University Front 3-ga to Gung-dong 4-ga, Yuseong Life High School 3-ga to Jinjam 4-ga), ▲Buk Yuseong-daero (World Cup 4-ga to Oesam 4-ga), ▲World Cup-daero (Jangdae 3-ga to World Cup 4-ga), and ▲Gyebaek-ro (Western Fire Station 3-ga to Seodaejeon Interchange 3-ga) will maintain a speed limit of 60 km/h to ensure smooth traffic flow.

Mayor Heo Tae-jeong of Daejeon said, "The city will discover and implement various traffic policies to protect pedestrian safety," and added, "We also ask for active participation from citizens in the nationwide implementation of 'Safe Speed 5030.'"

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