Gangdong-gu Deploys Dedicated Personnel for Children's Safe Commute from School

Deployment of Safety Personnel to Create Safe Children's Commute Routes through Direct Operation of Dedicated Staff in High Accident Zones... Expansion to 30 Locations with Additional Hiring of Dedicated Staff in 2022

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gangdong-gu (District Mayor Jeonghoon Lee) has been making multifaceted efforts to prevent children's traffic accidents and create safe school routes.

In addition to deploying and operating 199 dedicated personnel called ‘Green Traffic Safety Keepers’ who guide traffic on the way to school along major school routes of 27 elementary schools in the area, since last September, the district has been implementing the ‘Children’s Traffic Accident Hotspot Safety Keeper’ project, which has received great support from parents.

The ‘Children’s Traffic Accident Hotspot Safety Keeper’ project is based on data from the Traffic Accident Analysis System (TAAS) from 2017 to 2020. It investigates the time and location of pedestrian traffic accidents involving children within a 300m radius around elementary schools in Gangdong-gu, and deploys dedicated personnel to 14 locations where four or more traffic accidents occurred.

Gangdong-gu is the first autonomous district in Seoul to directly hire and operate dedicated personnel for children's traffic guidance.

The district publicly recruited 14 fixed-term workers and has been deploying them to 14 locations with frequent accidents during after-school hours since last September. They conduct pedestrian guidance activities for children for two hours daily from 2 PM to 4 PM on weekdays. Their wages are set at the 2021 living wage level (10,700 KRW per hour).

Next year, the district plans to hire additional dedicated personnel and expand the deployment to a total of 30 locations.

Jeonghoon Lee, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, “Through the Safety Keeper project and others, we are working to share and resolve parents’ concerns. We hope that children in Gangdong-gu can freely engage in activities without worry in a safe walking environment, and we will continue to develop policies for residents to make Gangdong a ‘Pedestrian-Friendly City.’”

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