Gwangju City’s All-Out Effort to Create a Safe City with 'Zero Major Fatal Accidents'

Identification of Key Issues in Traffic Accidents, Suicide, and Industrial Accidents Sectors

Gwangju Metropolitan City is making every effort to create a “Safe City Gwangju Anytime, Anywhere” with no traffic accidents, suicides, or industrial accidents.

The Gwangju City Government (Mayor Kang Gi-jeong) announced on the 12th that it has established a plan to achieve zero deaths in the three major areas of traffic accidents, suicides, and industrial accidents in 2024, and will implement 10 core tasks in each field with a total project budget of 16.988 billion KRW.

They will create a pedestrian-first safe traffic environment by expanding diagonal crosswalks in child protection zones and other areas, and diversify the participation methods of the Citizen Action Group to make it easier for citizens to report hazards in daily life.

▲ Creating a pedestrian-first safe traffic environment

To prevent traffic accidents, Gwangju City will establish a Traffic Safety Facility Management System (T-GIS) that utilizes big data based on the National Geographic Information System (GIS). By analyzing data, they will predict the timing for replacing facilities and maintain and manage traffic safety facilities more systematically.

Additionally, about 20 diagonal crosswalks will be expanded in child protection zones and areas with high pedestrian traffic to enhance pedestrian safety convenience. At 13 locations with frequent traffic accidents, lanes will be adjusted and traffic safety facilities such as central dividers and traffic islands will be improved.

They will also actively manage personal mobility devices (PM) such as electric scooters and electric bicycles, which have recently become a social issue. They will create 160 transfer parking zones across five autonomous districts and operate a civil complaint reporting system for towing illegally parked PMs and cracking down on illegal parking. The Citizen Action Group will also add reporting activities along with promotions and campaigns.

▲ Focused management of high-risk suicide groups and strengthening 24-hour emergency response system for mental illness patients

To prevent suicide attempts, continuous monitoring will be conducted in high-frequency locations and areas.

Life Love Practice Pharmacies, stores, and lodging facilities will be expanded to manage suicide means, linking to suicide prevention centers when risk signs occur.

24-hour counseling hotlines and joint field dispatches with 112 and 119 emergency services will also be implemented for high-risk suicide groups.

Furthermore, the number of mental emergency medical institutions will be expanded from 7 to 9, building mental emergency medical infrastructure. A suicide prevention cooperation system will be established with related agencies and experts to continue suicide prevention education and support for bereaved families.

▲ Expanded enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act… Support for establishing response systems in small-scale workplaces

Since January 27, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act has been expanded to apply to workplaces with 5 to fewer than 50 employees. Support will be provided for establishing safety and health management systems in small-scale workplaces, and promotional efforts will be strengthened.

Consultations (consulting) on risk assessments, a core part of serious accident prevention, will be focused on workplaces with fewer than 50 employees. Financial support will be provided for improving working environments to industrial safety and health excellent companies that have made efforts to prevent industrial accidents.

Additionally, six related agencies including the Gwangju Employment and Labor Office and the Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Small and Medium Venture Business Administration will sign business agreements to jointly promote safety and health activity support projects, promotions, and campaigns to raise safety responsibility awareness and spread a safety-first culture in workplaces.

Moreover, safety keepers will be utilized to conduct safety inspections and promotions at construction sites and other workplaces, and industrial accident blind spots such as foreign workers and high school students on field training will be identified and educated.

▲ Diversification of Citizen Action Group participation methods

Gwangju City will diversify the participation methods of the Citizen Action Group to reduce deaths in the three major areas. Systems will be improved so that citizens can easily report hazards in daily life, such as through the Safety Report app and the personal mobility device (PM) civil complaint reporting system.

“Safety Promotion Men” will be selected and linked at 96 administrative welfare centers to regularly promote prevention information by field, and key safety topics such as “Stop at Right Turn” and the Serious Accidents Punishment Act will be selected for focused promotion.

Park Nam-ju, Director of the Citizen Safety Office, said, “Active interest and participation of citizens are most important to reduce deaths in the three major areas of traffic accidents, suicides, and industrial accidents,” and added, “We hope many citizens will participate in the Citizen Action Group and that it will lead to a citywide safety culture practice movement.”

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