595 Violations of Traffic Accident-Causing Companies Detected... Deaths Reduced from 104 to 9

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 8th that, together with the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, it conducted a special safety inspection of transportation means targeting 477 transportation companies last year and detected 595 violations of regulations.

Trucks are parked at the Western Truck Terminal in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

This special inspection is the first case to apply strengthened safety inspection standards to companies causing traffic accidents. In the past, a special inspection was conducted when one traffic accident resulted in one death or three or more serious injuries, but since last year, this standard has been strengthened to one death or two or more serious injuries.

The number of violations increased by 130 compared to the previous year as the number of companies subject to inspection increased. By industry, the violations were ▲freight 290 cases ▲bus 177 cases ▲taxi 128 cases in order. The average number of violations per transportation company was 1.25, a 12.0% decrease from the previous year.

By inspection type, the violations were most frequent in ▲education management with 280 cases ▲driver management with 156 cases ▲vehicle management with 106 cases ▲operation management with 52 cases ▲others with 1 case. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained that the increase in violations related to education management was due to the normalization last year of driver education completion, which had been deferred due to COVID-19.

Among these, 490 cases received administrative sanctions, with fines and penalties imposed in 353 cases (72.0%). The remaining 137 cases received warnings or other dispositions.

The Ministry also announced the results of follow-up management of transportation companies that underwent special inspections in 2021. The number of traffic accident casualties decreased by 31.6%, from 2,646 in 2021 to 1,811 last year, and notably, the number of deaths drastically decreased from 104 to 9 during the same period. The number of accidents also decreased by 21.4%.

Based on these achievements, the Ministry plans to focus inspections on village bus transportation companies this year and conduct roadside inspections of charter buses before the holiday season.

Gu Heonsang, Director General of Comprehensive Transportation Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "To enhance public safety through the reduction of traffic accidents by transportation companies, we will consult with local governments, the Transportation Safety Authority, and other related organizations, and continue to strengthen safety management by conducting ongoing safety inspections of transportation means."

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