41% of Accidents Occur While Crossing in Children's Protection Zones... Ministry of the Interior and Safety Launches Customized Maintenance Plan

Installation of Facilities to Guide Temporary Stop in Front of Unsignalized Crosswalks

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Road Traffic Authority analyzed 40 school zones where many children's traffic accidents occurred last year and found that accidents while crossing accounted for 41% of the total.

On the 27th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety disclosed the results of a joint inspection with related agencies conducted from August 8 to 19. According to the inspection results, a total of 85 accidents occurred in 40 high-risk children's traffic accident areas, with accidents while crossing accounting for the highest proportion at 41.2% (35 cases), followed by accidents while riding bicycles at 34.1% (29 cases). Among the types of violations by offending drivers, failure to drive safely accounted for 37.6% (32 cases), and violation of pedestrian protection obligations was 32.9% (28 cases).

Risk factors were analyzed in three categories: road environment, drivers, and safety facilities, resulting in 333 identified risk factors. Safety facility factors, such as insufficient provision of traffic safety information, were the most frequent at 172 cases, followed by road environment factors at 112 cases, and driver factors at 49 cases.

Accordingly, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to improve safety facility risk factors by installing additional facilities such as right-turn traffic signals and stop signs to ensure accurate provision of traffic information, and to improve visibility by installing ground traffic signals where visibility is insufficient. Road environment risk factors will be addressed by securing children's walking spaces and expanding designated protection zones, while places where vehicle-pedestrian conflicts are a concern will see expansion of crosswalk waiting areas. Driver risk factors will be mitigated by installing speed reduction facilities such as speed enforcement equipment to prevent speeding, and by implementing measures such as installing illegal parking enforcement equipment.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will categorize these risk factor resolution plans into 306 short-term and 27 mid-to-long-term measures, with local governments establishing maintenance plans and taking action accordingly. Improvements that can be completed in a short period, such as anti-slip pavement and installation of safety signs, will be finished by the end of this year, while projects requiring more time and budget, such as road structure improvements, will be reflected in next year's school zone improvement projects to facilitate maintenance.

Cho Sang-myung, Director of the Safety Policy Office, stated, “Within school zones, it is essential that drivers recognize themselves as guardians of all children and voluntarily show consideration, which is key to strengthening children's traffic safety,” adding, “The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will actively promote facility improvements in cooperation with related agencies to prevent traffic accidents within school zones.”

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