Gwangju City to Strengthen Traffic Safety Measures Including Illegal Parking from Next Month

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 28th that it will strengthen traffic safety measures starting next month to ensure the early establishment of the Vehicle Safety Speed 5030, which was implemented on the 17th, and to enhance citizens' awareness of traffic safety.

The Safety Speed 5030, according to the revision of the Road Traffic Act in November last year, reduces the previous driving speed of 60 km/h to 50 km/h and limits secondary roads without traffic disruption to 30 km/h.

Before the full implementation, Gwangju replaced all traffic signs throughout the city with 5030 signs from May last year until last month, undergoing more than two years of preparation and grace period.

Accordingly, starting from the 11th of next month, fines for illegal parking in school zones will increase by 40,000 KRW for passenger cars and 40,000 KRW for vans, raising the fines from 80,000 KRW to 120,000 KRW for passenger cars and from 90,000 KRW to 130,000 KRW for vans.

Enforcement against illegal parking will also be strengthened.

In the five major illegal parking prohibited zones?school zones, within 10 meters of bus stops, crosswalks, around fire hydrants, and corners of intersections?parking violations will be immediately enforced with fines and towing measures applied simultaneously.

Additionally, a zero-tolerance policy will be applied to illegal parking at major intersections and habitual congestion areas, with strict enforcement.

However, to alleviate difficulties faced by small business owners severely affected by COVID-19, enforcement against illegal parking in densely populated commercial and restaurant areas will be operated flexibly within the range that does not affect traffic flow.

Enforcement against vehicles operating in bus-only lanes will continue to encourage the suppression of passenger car traffic in the city center and promote the use of public transportation for environmental protection.

In areas with subway construction zones and narrow lanes, the designation of bus-only lanes will be lifted to avoid traffic disruption.

Regulations related to electric kickboards will also change starting in May. Only those aged 16 or older with a motorized vehicle license or higher can operate kickboards, and only one person must ride at a time.

Violations of the Road Traffic Act related to kickboards will incur fines ranging from a minimum of 10,000 KRW to a maximum of 130,000 KRW.

Furthermore, to resolve the issue of unauthorized parking of electric kickboards, the city, autonomous districts, and shared service providers will discuss installation locations and permit procedures to pilot the installation of electric kickboard parking lines in major city areas.

Park Nam-eon, Director of the City Transportation and Construction Bureau, said, “We hope that the implementation of traffic safety policies will raise citizens' traffic order and safety awareness and foster a mature traffic culture.”

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