100 Days Since 'Safe Speed 5030' Implementation... Pedestrian Deaths in Applied Areas Down 16.7%

Average Traffic Speed Decrease Limited to 1 km/h
No 'Fine Bombardment' Occurred

The Safe Speed 5030 policy, which was fully implemented starting April 17, has reduced speed limits. On general roads, the speed limit has been lowered from the previous 60-80 km/h to 50 km/h, and on residential and other side streets, it has been reduced to 30 km/h or less. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] An analysis revealed that during the 100 days since the implementation of the 'Safe Speed 5030' policy in April this year, traffic accident fatalities decreased while the reduction in travel speed was minimal.

The National Police Agency, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Korea Transportation Safety Authority investigated traffic accidents, travel speeds, and speed limit compliance rates for 100 days from April 17, when Safe Speed 5030 was fully implemented, until the 26th of last month, and announced the results on the 11th.

During this period, the number of traffic accident fatalities nationwide was 760, a 7.8% decrease compared to 824 in the same period last year. Pedestrian fatalities also decreased by 11.7% to 242 during the same period. In particular, in areas where Safe Speed 5030 was applied, total traffic accident fatalities decreased by 12.6%, and pedestrian fatalities decreased by 16.7%, showing a reduction 2.7 times greater than in non-applied areas. Additionally, the number of seriously injured persons requiring more than three weeks of treatment was 12,678, a 28.6% decrease from last year. This is analyzed to be due to the reduction in collision speed caused by the lowered speed limits.

The feared decrease in travel speed was also minimal. Using data collected from digital tachographs installed in commercial vehicles, an analysis was conducted on 32 nationwide sections where the speed limit was lowered to 50 km/h. Compared to the same period last year, the average speed decreased by about 1.0 km/h. Furthermore, the speed limit compliance rate was highest in the order of vans, freight vehicles, passenger cars, and special vehicles.

The police also explained that there was no 'fine bomb.' After the implementation of Safe Speed 5030, the average number of enforcement cases per unmanned enforcement device per day was 3.12, a 12.3% decrease compared to 3.56 cases last year. Correspondingly, speeding fines also decreased by about 10%. The National Police Agency, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Korea Transportation Safety Authority stated, "Considering that this is an early analysis result after implementation, the effect is expected to increase over time," and added, "If the public actively participates in creating a road traffic environment where pedestrians can walk safely, the effect will be maximized."

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