Korea Transportation Safety Authority, SK Gas, and Others Launch 'Stop Campaign'

The Korea Transportation Safety Authority, SK Gas, and the Road Traffic Authority have joined hands again this year, following last year, for the 'Stop Campaign' (Driver Stop, Children Stop, Fine Dust Stop).

The Stop Campaign has been underway since 2021 to reduce child traffic accidents through improving driver awareness, and this year it has set three themes of 'Stop'?Driver Stop, Children Stop, and Fine Dust Stop.

Specifically, Driver Stop refers to stopping surrounding vehicles when a school bus stops according to Article 51 of the Road Traffic Act (Special Protection for Children’s School Buses). Children Stop means that children wait until the vehicle departs after getting off the school bus. Fine Dust Stop signifies the transition of children’s school buses to eco-friendly LPG vehicles.

The appearance of a child safety bus stop. [Photo provided by Korea Transportation Safety Authority]

To widely promote the meaning of the Stop Campaign, the Transportation Safety Authority has been operating 17 ‘Safe Stops’ where children can safely get on and off, mainly in the metropolitan area, together with SK Gas and the Road Traffic Authority since 2021.

This year, the scope will be expanded nationwide, with Safe Stops installed in 13 apartment complexes across the country, creating a total of 30 Safe Stops by the first half of the year. These apartment complexes are prioritized based on discussions between the regional headquarters of the Transportation Safety Authority and local governments, selecting complexes over 10 years old with more than 1,000 households.

Kwon Yong-bok, Chairman of the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, said, "Roads inside apartment complexes are outside the road zones managed by the state and lack safety facilities, resulting in continuous child traffic accidents within the complexes. We will discover and expand Stop Campaigns and projects to create a safe walking environment so that child pedestrians can be protected from vehicles."

Meanwhile, according to statistics from the Road Traffic Authority, child traffic accidents last year increased by 3.1% compared to 2021, totaling 9,163 cases. Over the past 10 years (2013?2022), there have been 105,768 child traffic accidents, resulting in 451 child fatalities.

In particular, traffic accident victims are mostly children in lower grades of elementary school or younger, with the highest number of casualties occurring during the 2 to 6 p.m. dismissal hours. It is presumed that accidents occur when children attempt to cross immediately after getting off vehicles or when drivers fail to stop near children’s school buses.

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