"Be Careful with Bicycles"... Smart Safety Devices Installed at Hongjecheon, Visited by Millions Annually

Notice at 7 Points Along Hongjecheon Stream with Pictograms and Voice Guidance
Displays Bicycle Information to Prevent Collisions and Promote Safe Speed Maintenance

Smart safety facilities installed along the Hongjecheon Stream by Seodaemun-gu to enhance the safety of pedestrians and bicycle users. Provided by Seodaemun-gu.

Seodaemun-gu, Seoul (Mayor Lee Seongheon) announced on the 25th that it has installed smart safety facilities at seven locations along the Hongjecheon walking trail and bicycle path to ensure the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, and recently began pilot operations.

The area along Hongjecheon is a representative walking trail in Seodaemun-gu, with a total of approximately 1.56 million pedestrians using it in the first half of this year alone, and a cumulative total of about 105,000 bicycles passing through.

In particular, the popularity of the 'Seodaemun Hongje Waterfall' and 'Cafe Waterfall' has increased the number of trail users, raising the importance of preventing safety accidents. In fact, in February of this year, there was an incident where a pedestrian collided with a bicycle, prompting a 119 ambulance dispatch.

In response, Seodaemun-gu promoted a project to build smart safety facilities utilizing intelligent closed-circuit television (CCTV) technology. This facility is an electronic display system that informs users of bicycle speed, approach status, and precautions through text, numbers, pictograms, and voice guidance.

For pedestrians, it displays information about approaching bicycles to help prevent collisions, and for cyclists, it guides them to maintain a safe speed within 20 km/h. Additionally, in areas with many pedestrians such as the 'Hongjecheon Waterfall Plaza,' it displays messages encouraging cyclists to dismount and walk their bicycles. The messages include 'Bicycle approaching,' 'Dismount bicycle,' 'Observe bicycle safe speed,' 'Beware of bicycle speeding,' and 'Your current speed.'

Last year, the district conducted a 'bicycle recognition and speed display test' by applying edge artificial intelligence (AI)-based intelligent CCTV on the Hongjecheon walking trail in collaboration with a domestic CCTV manufacturer.

The analysis system linked to this CCTV collects various real-time data such as bicycle traffic volume and speed by time of day, which will be used as information to enhance pedestrian safety in the future.

Mayor Lee Seongheon stated, “We will continue to expand systems that provide safety and comfort to the many visitors of Hongjecheon,” and added, “We will maintain ongoing interest to effectively utilize advancing CCTV technology in the right places.”

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