Traffic Accidents in Seoul School Zones Decrease by 71% After Installation of Unmanned Cameras

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 30th that, in collaboration with the Seoul branch of the Korea Road Traffic Authority, it conducted the nation's first analysis of traffic accident data at locations with unmanned speed enforcement cameras installed within child protection zones in Seoul, revealing that the number of accidents has significantly decreased to about 71% of previous levels.

This analysis compared traffic accident data over a total of four years?two years before and two years after installation?at 107 sites where unmanned speed enforcement cameras were installed in 2020 within child protection zones. Looking at traffic accident trends over the past five years, the total number of traffic accidents decreased by an average of 3.5% annually, while child traffic accidents decreased by an average of 3.3% annually, showing a 0.2 percentage point lower reduction rate compared to overall traffic accidents.

Since the enactment of the Min-sik Act in 2020, child protection zone traffic safety facilities have been continuously installed, and comparing the number of child traffic accidents within these zones shows a reduction effect of 26.7% (from an annual average of 95.5 cases to 70 cases). The number of child pedestrian traffic accidents within child protection zones sharply decreased by 71% (from 31 to 9 cases), and the total number of pedestrian traffic accidents also decreased by 50.4% (from 133 to 66 cases).

Before the installation of unmanned speed enforcement cameras in child protection zones, the most frequent child pedestrian accidents occurred while crossing the street, with 20 cases (64.5%), which significantly dropped to 4 cases after the cameras were installed.

Meanwhile, to create a safer environment in child protection zones, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to carry out improvement projects by the end of the year, including installing 200 unmanned speed enforcement cameras, 37 km of protective fences, and establishing or replacing 140 traffic signals. Additionally, in accordance with the revised Road Traffic Act, new pavement markings will be installed at start and end points, and existing white crosswalks will be improved to yellow crosswalks.

Yoon Jong-jang, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Urban Transportation Office, stated, “As the traffic accident reduction effect has been proven through the nation’s first statistical analysis of unmanned speed enforcement cameras in child protection zones conducted by Seoul, we will continue to manage and maintain a safe school commute and pedestrian environment that all citizens can trust.” He added, “We also hope that drivers will pay close attention to creating a safe traffic culture within child protection zones.”

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