Pedestrian-centered principles to make school zones safe - in line with the revised Road Traffic Act to take effect from the 12th

Incheon laid its foundation to become the No. 1 city in terms of the children's traffic safety through the implementation of its School Zone Safety program.

The city announced that with the School Zone Safety program it launched this year, the number of traffic accidents involving children in a School Zone dropped by 50%, and the number of casualties by 100%.

▲ Incheon laid its foundation to become the No. 1 city in terms of the children's traffic safety through the implementation of its School Zone Safety program. Image: the road markings for school zone.

According to the tentative statistics by the Incheon Metropolitan Police, which were announced on the 25th, the number of traffic accidents in a School Zone reduced from 28 in the preceding year to 14, and the casualty from 1 to zero. The number of injured victims also reduced from 27 in the preceding year to 14 this year.

The city is boosting the traffic safety within school zones by installing customized traffic safety installations, reinforcing the lightings at crosswalks, and installing unmanned road enforcement equipment reflecting the characteristics of pediatric pedestrians and safety hazards.

▲ The road safety installations near a school zone - Yellow Carpet (Yellow Footprints)

So far, the city has designated 693 school zones (as of June 2022) and plans to install customized traffic safety installations in 415 locations near the commuting routes of the children, crosswalk illuminating devices in 121 locations, and 133 unmanned road enforcement devices.

In addition, the city plans to designate32 school zones as the comprehensive improvement areas to improve the signs, road markings, and speed bumps in these children protection area.

The School Zone Safety program of the city is in line with the revised Road Traffic Act that will come into effect from the 12th (See Attachment 2) in that it is totally focused on pedestrians.

▲ A crosswalk illumination device. It was installed as a part of the efforts to ensure the safety of the children on the streets.

The city has always been working on the road safety of the children, as well as other populations in need of safety assistance on the road.

Like the new law that now makes it mandatory to stop before taking a right turn at a crossroad regardless of the color of the traffic lamp, when the pedestrian is crossing or even waiting to cross, the installation of the customized road safety installations will make the commute of the children safer, while the unmanned enforcement devices will improve the compliance rate with the speed limits and traffic safety education will enhance the awareness. These multiple layers of safety measures are a part of the city's strategy to keep the children safe on our streets.

▲ An unmanned camera installed in a school zone.

In March, 26 school zones were designated as no truck zone, which strengthened the protection even further. With this, 322 school zones, which are 46% of all such areas in the city, are off limit to trucks.

In addition, as the revised Road Traffic Act takes effect from the 12th of this month, the city started the 'A Right Stop: Make Sure to Stop Whenever You Take a Right' campaign since the beginning of July.