"Pedestrian Traffic Accidents in Gyeonggi Area: Elderly 2.6 Times More Than Children" Gyeonggi Research Institute

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The number of pedestrian traffic accidents involving elderly people in the Gyeonggi region was found to be more than twice that of children.

The Gyeonggi Research Institute published a report titled "Creating Safer New Towns for Vulnerable Road Users" on the 27th, which reanalyzed traffic accident data from the Korea Road Traffic Authority over five years from 2016 to 2020.

According to the report, there were 49,221 pedestrian traffic accidents in the province from 2016 to 2020, of which 10,974 involved elderly people and 4,278 involved children. This means pedestrian accidents involving elderly people were 2.6 times more frequent than those involving children.

The annual average number of accidents per 10,000 people was 7.5, with elderly people experiencing 14.2 cases and children 4.6 cases, making the elderly three times more likely to be involved in accidents than children.

Fatal accidents also showed a significant difference, with 665 cases involving elderly people and 30 involving children, a 22-fold difference.

When analyzing pedestrian traffic accidents limited to new towns in the province, first-generation new towns recorded 4,333 cases (annual average of 6.9 cases per 10,000 people), and second-generation new towns recorded 2,091 cases (annual average of 3.7 cases per 10,000 people).

Pedestrian traffic accidents involving elderly and children were also higher in first-generation new towns (elderly 890 cases, children 313 cases) compared to second-generation new towns (elderly 334 cases, children 300 cases).

The institute analyzed that the first-generation new town projects initiated in the late 1980s and the second-generation new town projects in the early to mid-2000s likely did not sufficiently consider safety conditions, despite the introduction of child protection zones in 1995 and elderly protection zones in 2007.

In fact, the number of child protection zones per 10,000 people is 10.9 in first-generation new towns and 6.1 in second-generation new towns. Elderly protection zones are only 0.6 in first-generation and 0.4 in second-generation new towns.

In particular, elderly protection zones were relatively insufficient, and it was pointed out that traffic safety measures did not consider population changes, as the elderly population growth rate in new towns exceeded that of children.

Compared to 2015, the child population decreased by 5.0% in first-generation new towns and increased by 9.2% in second-generation new towns by 2020. The elderly population increased by 6.0% in first-generation new towns and 15.9% in second-generation new towns.

The institute proposed strategies for promoting pedestrian safety for vulnerable road users in new towns, including ▲ prioritizing pedestrian corridors throughout urban spaces and minimizing road crossings ▲ improving road environments and operating protection zones considering the characteristics of each vulnerable group ▲ establishing guidelines for efficient maintenance and management of traffic safety facilities.

Bin Mi-young, senior research fellow at the Gyeonggi Research Institute, emphasized, "Differentiated traffic safety measures considering the characteristics of each vulnerable group are necessary," adding, "For vulnerable road users to walk safely, safety measures should target the entire city, not just protection zones."

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