Urgent Improvement Needed for Crosswalk Location and Signal Adjustment in 'Frequent Right-Turn Pedestrian Accident Areas'

Ministry of the Interior and Safety, National Police Agency, Korea Road Traffic Authority Joint Inspection Results
Conducted by Dividing into Pedestrian Environment, Safety Facilities, Drivers, and Road Environment Factors... 350 Risk Factors Identified

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] It has been revealed that the location of crosswalks, signal adjustments, and visibility improvements of traffic safety facilities are urgently needed in 'areas with frequent right-turn pedestrian traffic accidents.'

On the 1st, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the National Police Agency, and the Korea Road Traffic Authority conducted a joint inspection of these high-risk 'areas with frequent right-turn pedestrian traffic accidents' and released the analysis results. This inspection targeted 60 locations where four or more traffic accidents involving pedestrians and right-turning vehicles occurred over three years until 2020, as analyzed by the Korea Road Traffic Authority.

The inspection was divided into △pedestrian environment △safety facilities △driver △road environment factors, identifying 350 risk factors. Among pedestrian environment factors, 126 cases requiring crosswalk location and signal adjustments were the most frequent, while 102 cases needing visibility improvements of traffic safety facilities ranked second among safety facility factors. Driver factors included 81 cases of vehicle speeding, and 13 cases of road environment factors requiring securing pedestrian routes or improving unsuitable intersection structures were identified.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to categorize the 350 identified risk factors into short-term (240 cases) and mid-to-long-term (110 cases) action deadlines and deliver them to local governments, encouraging improvements within the deadlines. For issues that can be improved in the short term, such as installing speed bumps and safety signs, improvements are to be completed by the end of the year. For mid-to-long-term issues requiring significant budget and time, such as installing right-turn-only lanes and intersection structure improvements, priority maintenance will be carried out through budget support. In particular, in line with the revision of the Road Traffic Act to strengthen pedestrian protection obligations, active improvements will be made regarding pedestrian environment factors such as crosswalk locations and pedestrian signal times.

Meanwhile, analysis of traffic accident types shows that 7 out of 10 victims in 'areas with frequent right-turn pedestrian traffic accidents' were involved in accidents while crossing the road. Among 10 offending drivers, 6 violated pedestrian protection obligations such as stopping temporarily before the crosswalk, highlighting the need for special caution to prioritize pedestrians.

Jung Gu-chang, Director of the Safety Policy Office, said, “We will actively promote facility improvements in cooperation with related organizations to prevent right-turn pedestrian traffic accidents,” and added, “We ask the public to recognize that drivers can soon become pedestrians and for pedestrians to follow minimum safety rules when using crosswalks.”

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