Introduced 'Pedestrian Priority Start Signal' at 100 Locations in Changwon... Traffic Accidents Down 20%, Signal Violations Down 10%

Overview of Pedestrian Leading Interval (LPI).

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Sang-hyun] Traffic accidents in Changwon City, Gyeongnam Province, have noticeably decreased.

Changwon City announced on the 5th that as a result of expanding the pilot 'Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPI)' signal, introduced in September last year to enhance pedestrian safety at crosswalks, to 100 locations this year, traffic accidents at intersections have decreased by 20%.

LPI is a new traffic signal method that starts the pedestrian crossing signal 3 to 7 seconds before the straight-going vehicle signal at intersections. This allows drivers making right turns to more easily recognize pedestrians, preventing collisions between vehicles and pedestrians.

To prevent pedestrian traffic accidents at crosswalks and improve traffic safety indices, Changwon City conducted a joint field inspection last September with the Road Traffic Authority and Jungbu Police Station, and piloted LPI at five locations including City Hall Intersection.

Following the plan to expand to 100 locations this year, Changwon City is installing LPI signals in 30 locations in the first quarter, 20 in the second quarter, 25 in the third quarter, and 25 in the fourth quarter.

Additionally, to evaluate effectiveness, the city collaborated with five local police stations to assess the 'traffic accident status before and after LPI implementation' at the relevant intersections.

The Road Traffic Authority investigated and analyzed indicators for effectiveness evaluation, such as vehicle approach speed, pedestrian signal violation rate, and initial pedestrian entry volume.

As a result, traffic accidents decreased by 20% compared to the three-year average before operation, pedestrian signal violations decreased by 10%, vehicle approach speed decreased by 13% (3.5 km/h), and the number of pedestrians entering initially increased by 26 per hour, indicating a significant improvement in the pedestrian environment at intersections.

Je Jong-nam, head of Changwon City's New Transportation Promotion Division, said, "We will expand LPI to locations where it is truly needed and focus on preventing pedestrian safety accidents by introducing systems such as automatic pedestrian signal extension to ensure that signals do not change while pedestrians are crossing, putting them at risk."

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