Half of Traffic Accidents on Icy Roads Occur in December... 'Be Careful on Morning Commutes'

Korea Road Traffic Authority Analyzes Accidents Over the Past 5 Years
Reveals 54 Frequent Locations of Icy Road Accidents

Half of the traffic accidents caused by icy road surfaces freezing during winter occur in December. Additionally, the time when accidents most frequently happen is between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.

On the 12th, Yonhap News cited an analysis of traffic accident big data by the Korea Road Traffic Authority, reporting that over the past five years (2019?2023), there have been 3,944 traffic accidents caused by road icing such as black ice. Black ice is a freezing phenomenon where snow, rain, or frost seeps into the road and freezes thinly, making it difficult to detect with the naked eye. Due to accidents caused by black ice, a total of 95 people have died and 6,589 have been injured over the past five years. Furthermore, the fatality rate of icing-related traffic accidents (2.4) was about 1.7 times higher than that of non-icing traffic accidents (1.4).

The Han River near Yeouido, Seoul, was frozen due to a cold wave last January. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

About half (49%) of icy road traffic accidents were concentrated in December. Thirty percent of icing-related traffic accidents occurred in January, indicating that these types of accidents mainly clustered in December and January. The time period when icing-related traffic accidents occurred most frequently was between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., with accidents during this time accounting for 34.9%, more than twice the 15.6% proportion of non-icing traffic accidents during the same hours. By road type, the fatality rate of icing-related traffic accidents on expressways (highways), where driving speeds are higher, was 18.7, which is 4.5 times higher than the fatality rate of non-icing traffic accidents on expressways (4.2).

The Korea Road Traffic Authority has recently released information on 54 locations nationwide where three or more icing accidents (or two or more if fatal accidents are included) have occurred within a 200-meter radius over the past five years, in the form of web services and APIs to promote safe winter driving among citizens. Vulnerable accident locations were mainly on bridges, tunnel entrances, and elevated roads, which are prone to road icing, and many included slopes and curved roads. Areas with frequent icing traffic accidents can be checked on the Korea Road Traffic Authority’s Traffic Accident Analysis System (TAAS). In addition, the authority also provided information on locations where traffic accidents frequently occur by theme, such as child pedestrians, elderly pedestrians, and bicycles.

Ko Young-woo, head of the Traffic AI Big Data Convergence Center at the Korea Road Traffic Authority, told Yonhap News, "Road icing is the biggest risk factor on roads during winter. Especially, black ice caused by sudden drops in temperature is difficult to detect in advance, so extra caution and slow driving are necessary when driving through shaded sections, bridges, and tunnel entrances." He also advised, "Since icing-related traffic accidents have a higher fatality rate compared to general traffic accidents, drivers should maintain sufficient distance from the vehicle ahead and avoid sudden acceleration or braking."

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