Danger! Watch Carefully and Drive... Gyeongnam Province Takes Action to Prevent Wrong-Way Driving Accidents

Improvement of Safety Facilities at 28 Locations, 1.13 Billion Won Invested

Gyeongnam Provincial Government Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Gyeongsangnam-do Province will establish measures to prevent wrong-way driving accidents and improve facilities on local roads and delegated national roads managed by the province.

On December 15 last year, a wrong-way driving accident occurred at Yangjeong Tunnel on National Road No. 14 in Yangjeong and Aju-dong, Geoje City, and on January 7 this year, a wrong-way driving accident occurred at the intersection of National Road No. 2 in Ungdong 1-dong, Jinhae-gu, Changwon City, resulting in casualties.

Gyeongnam Province inspected intersections, tunnels, and other locations that could cause driver visibility confusion or wrong-way vehicle entry among a total of 54 local and delegated national road routes covering 2,896.8 km under its management, and prepared prevention measures.

From January 27 to February 11, a full survey of intersections with concerns about wrong-way entry was conducted jointly with the relevant cities and counties.

The roundabout section on Local Route 37 in Wicheon-myeon, Geochang-gun, and the entrance and exit ramp section on Local Route 37 in Baekjeon-myeon, Hamyang-gun.

As a result of examining recent wrong-way driving accidents, it was revealed that common factors included ▲lack of safety signs at intersections ▲visibility confusion due to drunk driving ▲bridges and tunnels with relatively limited shoulder or extra space, mainly on four-lane (two lanes per direction) roads.

Based on the full survey results, 1.125 billion KRW will be invested to complete facility maintenance at 28 major intersections on local and delegated national roads within the province by the first half of this year.

Colored guide lines will be installed on the road surface to improve driver visibility at major intersection sections, and luminous no-entry signs and wrong-way driving prevention alarm systems will be installed at intersection entry and exit points.

In places where various signs may cause confusion, all signs except essential ones will be organized, and depending on future accident occurrences, traffic accident-prone area signs or drowsiness prevention warning systems inside tunnels will also be installed.

Heo Dongsik, Director of the Urban Transportation Bureau, said, “We will promptly improve safety facilities in wrong-way driving risk sections at intersections on local and delegated national roads managed by our province to provide a safer road environment,” and added, “Please drive more safely at intersections, tunnels, and bridges.”

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