One Month Since 'Safe Speed 5030' Implementation... 27% Decrease in Traffic Accident Deaths in Major Cities

The decrease in traffic speed is not significant
Number of unmanned enforcement cases also reduced... Positive sign of system stabilization

Unmanned enforcement camera installed at the intersection near Gangdong Station, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] It has been revealed that the number of traffic accident fatalities in metropolitan areas significantly decreased during the first month of implementing the 'Safe Speed 5030' policy, which lowers urban speed limits by 50 km/h. The feared reduction in travel speed was minimal.

The National Police Agency announced on the 27th that an analysis of the effects of the 'Safe Speed 5030' policy, implemented from the 17th of last month, showed a 27.2% decrease in traffic accident fatalities in special and metropolitan cities. The average travel speed only decreased by 1 km/h.

According to the police, from the 17th of last month to the 16th of this month, the number of traffic accident fatalities nationwide was 216, a 7.7% decrease compared to the same period last year (234). In particular, in special and metropolitan cities, the core areas of the Safe Speed 5030 implementation, traffic accident fatalities were 48, down 27.2% compared to last year. Additionally, the number of seriously injured persons requiring more than three weeks of treatment was 2,778, a sharp drop of 45.3% compared to last year (5,079).

Statistics indicating that the Safe Speed 5030 policy is taking hold are also notable. Despite the number of unmanned enforcement devices installed nationwide increasing by more than 20%, from 9,792 last year to 11,757 this year, the total number of speeding enforcement cases decreased by 6.5%, from 1,090,878 last year to 1,019,847 this year. A police official analyzed, "Contrary to concerns that enforcement and fines would increase due to the implementation of the Safe Speed 5030 policy, many drivers actively complied with the speed limits, resulting in a decrease in enforcement cases."

There was also no significant change in travel speeds in urban areas. When the police analyzed the average travel speeds in special and metropolitan cities from the 24th to the 30th of last month through the Urban Traffic Information Center, only slight decreases were observed with no meaningful differences. Seoul changed from 28.7 km/h to 27.2 km/h, and Busan from 28.3 km/h to 26.9 km/h.

A National Police Agency official stated, "We will conduct a detailed effect analysis of Safe Speed 5030, address any shortcomings, and cooperate with related ministries to establish it as a nationwide traffic safety culture movement."

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