Police to reinforce traffic safety in school zones

Police will deploy more officers and increase the number of automated speed cameras in school zones in an effort to reduce the number of accidents in such areas. / Korea times file

By Kim Jae-heun

Police will deploy more officers and increase the number of automated speed cameras in school zones in an effort to reduce the number of accidents in such areas.

According to the National Police Agency (NPA), Sunday, 620 officers posted at traffic control zones at intersections during rush-hours will be reassigned to schools.

The measures come as a bill requiring the reinforcement of traffic safety measures in school zones ― that includes these ― awaits approval at the National Assembly, currently is under threat of a filibuster by the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.

The bill was proposed after a car killed elementary school student Kim Min-sik, 9, in a school zone in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, in September.

In school zones where pedestrian access and roads are not separated or there are no speed cameras, police will oversee children after-school hours as they return home.

Zones that previously had a 40 kilometers per hour speed limit to ensure smooth traffic flow will have this reduced to the standard limit of 30. According to the NPA, 588 school zones out of 16,789, or 3.5 percent, had the higher speed limit in of the first half of the year.

Between 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. when students leave school, police will use camcorders and mobile speed cameras to reinforce traffic controls. Many school zone accidents happen during this four-hour period.

In school zones without traffic lights, cars must stop before crosswalks and then drive over them slowly if they are not in use.

In the first half of 2020, police plan to expand automated control equipment in areas seeing frequent accidents.

Currently, any location where more than two accidents occur within a radius of 200 meters is categorized as an area of frequency.

Local governments will also cooperate with police to crack down on illegal parking in school zones, with plans either to double or triple the 40,000 won fine.