Confusion Over Right Turn Stop... Yoon Hee-geun Says Enforcement Depends on Pedestrian Danger

Expansion of Right-Turn Traffic Lights Planned... "100% Installation Is Difficult"

As the three-month grace period for the obligation to stop temporarily when making a right turn officially ended, the police announced that they will decide whether to enforce penalties or provide guidance based on the level of danger to pedestrians.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At a press briefing held on the 1st at the Police Agency in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Police Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun stated regarding the obligation to stop temporarily when making a right turn, "If there is direct harm to pedestrians, enforcement will be carried out; in other cases, guidance will be provided." This means that instead of setting a separate guidance period, the decision will be made based on the risk to pedestrians.

Commissioner Yoon said, "Since this is a new traffic culture and involves enforcement, it will take quite some time to settle," adding, "Regarding criticisms about insufficient publicity, we plan to promote it more through various methods."

The Police Agency also plans to install additional right-turn traffic signals. Commissioner Yoon explained, "Through securing budgets, we intend to gradually increase the 13 right-turn signals nationwide," and added, "It seems difficult to install them 100%, and decisions will be made considering pedestrian volume and other factors."

Regarding drunk driving enforcement including in school zones, he said, "The intensive enforcement period is from April 13 to May, and as of the 27th of last month, 167 drunk driving cases were detected," adding, "It is not done daily but in three rounds, with an average of over 50 people caught per enforcement session."

Meanwhile, the Police Agency announced that related to the ongoing charter fraud cases, 1,878 victims have been identified from July last year to this month, with total damages amounting to 316.7 billion KRW. The police explained that through special enforcement until the 9th of last month, 2,521 suspects were arrested, of whom 211 were detained.

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