High-Risk Areas for Elderly Pedestrian Traffic Accidents, On-Site Customized Maintenance Initiated

Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Joint Inspection with Related Agencies

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Road Traffic Authority announced on the 26th that they plan to refurbish facility improvement measures discovered during a joint inspection conducted last October targeting areas with a high risk of traffic accidents involving elderly pedestrians, in accordance with on-site conditions.

The inspection of high-risk areas for elderly pedestrian traffic accidents was conducted on 60 locations selected through comprehensive analysis by the Korea Road Traffic Authority using big data, including ▲floating population aged 65 and over ▲elderly ratio relative to the population by region ▲locations of traditional markets and other frequent traffic accident spots.

Among the 1,018 pedestrian traffic accident fatalities that occurred last year, elderly pedestrian traffic accident fatalities accounted for 59% (601 people), indicating that the elderly are the most vulnerable to pedestrian traffic accidents.

The inspection analyzed factors divided into ▲road environment ▲safety facilities ▲driver factors, identifying a total of 452 risk factors. The main details are as follows.

Regarding road environment factors, the most common issue was the need for crosswalk location adjustments and expansion of pedestrian spaces, accounting for 198 cases (43.8%). Safety facility factors included necessary improvements such as visibility enhancement of traffic safety facilities and repair of aged safety signs, totaling 133 cases (29.4%). Driver factors, such as illegal parking and vehicle speeding requiring improvement, accounted for 121 cases (26.8%).

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to categorize the total 452 identified risk factors into short-term (369 cases) and mid-to-long-term (83 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 pedestrian protective fences and maintaining signboards, improvements are to be completed by the first half of next year. For mid-to-long-term matters requiring significant budget and time, such as installing signal violation and speeding enforcement equipment and roundabouts, priority refurbishment will be planned through budget support and other means.

Cho Sang-myeong, Director of the Safety Policy Office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, stated, “In Korea, aging is progressing at a very rapid pace, and social activities of the elderly are also increasing, raising the risk of traffic accidents involving the elderly.” He added, “Since elderly fatalities account for more than half of all pedestrian traffic accident deaths, we will continue to conduct diagnosis and refurbishment of frequent accident and high-risk areas to reduce elderly pedestrian traffic accidents.”

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