"Stop Reckless Bicycle Riding"... Seoul City Announces Comprehensive Improvement of 'Hangang Bicycle Road'

Plan to Complete the Project by 2025

Seoul City announced on the 7th that it will complete the "Han River Park Bicycle Road Comprehensive Improvement" project by 2025 to prevent safety accidents caused by bicycle speeding. The project includes speed control on Han River bicycles, complete separation of bicycle and pedestrian paths, and road width expansion.

The "Han River Bicycle Road" has seen frequent safety accidents along with an increase in users. In the past five years (2019 to September 2023), there have been a total of 471 bicycle safety accidents in Han River Park, of which 174 cases (36.9%) were collisions between bicycles, the highest number. In particular, the causes of accidents between bicycles and between bicycles and pedestrians are all presumed to be due to speeding, accounting for 48.2% of the cases.

To improve this, the city will install a total of 40 "smart systems" in Han River Park by 2025. These systems use AI-based CCTV to detect bicycle speeding and display the speed on electronic signboards, along with safety speed violation announcements. On bicycle roads with crosswalks, measures such as "hump-type crosswalks" installed higher than regular crosswalks for better visibility, speed bumps, safety speed signs, and colored pavement for safety caution will be implemented to induce slow driving and prevent accidents.

To encourage active participation from citizens, promotional efforts will also be strengthened. A total of 170 banners and signboards with the phrase "Speeding is a weapon that takes lives" will be installed in 11 Han River parks by the end of the year to raise awareness among bicycle users. Additionally, a proposal will be made to amend the "Road Traffic Act" to mandate compliance with a speed limit of 20 km/h on certain sections of bicycle roads.

Joo Yong-tae, head of Seoul City's Future Han River Headquarters, said, "We will do our best to complete the 'Han River Park Bicycle Road Comprehensive Improvement' project 100% by 2025 so that both pedestrians and bicycle users can safely and enjoyably use Han River Park." He added, "We ask all citizens to actively participate in adhering to the safe speed limit of 20 km/h on Han River Park bicycle roads."

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