I stopped by Korea for a while to see my family. I usually use public transportation, but this time I rented a car and drove around because I had to go around a few local cities. As I drove myself, I could feel that there were more child protection areas on the road than before. I didn’t get used to having to slow down suddenly after running fast, but speed cameras are watching, and protecting children from traffic accidents is a natural thing for adults, so I started paying more attention to driving.
Then, I found an elderly care area. It is said that the system has been in effect since 2008, but I saw it for the first time this time, perhaps because I have lived abroad for a long time. In the elderly protection area, as in the child protection area, elderly protection signs, speed bumps, and anti-skid facilities were installed to reduce the speed of vehicles. Having facilities like this for the transportation-impaired children and the elderly is a good thing for a world where everyone is safe.
However, one difference is that the speed cameras installed in each child protection area are not visible in the elderly protection area. After learning about the existence of the elderly protection area, I deliberately searched and checked three places, but only one of them was installed, and the other two did not. Later, I found that children’s protection zones are obliged to install speed cameras according to the Road Traffic Act, but this is not the case in senior citizens’ protection zones, so there are far more places where they are not installed. In the middle of the speed bumps in the elderly protection area, there were fake ones that were painted only in color and actually had no jaws.
Insufficient Enforcement Equipment… Elderly Pedestrians Are Dangerous
Children get into traffic accidents a lot, and the elderly don’t, so I looked for data to see if there was such a difference. According to the statistics of pedestrian casualties in traffic accidents by the Road Traffic Safety Corporation, out of 933 deaths in pedestrian accidents as of 2022, there were 558 elderly people aged 65 or older, more than all other generations combined. There were 14 children under the age of 12, which is about 40 times more.
At the end of last year, the Korea Road Traffic Authority published <Research Report on Safety Facility Operation for Elderly Protection Areas>, and you can see the difference between child protection areas and senior protection areas in more detail.
According to the report, as of the end of 2021, there are 2673 senior protection areas installed nationwide, and the designation rate is about 30.0% compared to the designated target. This is less than one-fifth of the child protection zone (16,759 designated, 84.4% designated). The total length of extension of the protection zone for the elderly is 815.9km, which is 305m for each protection zone for the elderly, and the total distance of extension for the protection zone for children is 7153.2km, and the extension distance for each protection zone is 427m, which is about 1.4 times that of the protection zone for the elderly.
In the case of the elderly protection area, among the 47 surveyed areas that include road sections with two or more round-trip lanes, unmanned speed enforcement equipment is installed in only four places, and only one out of ten places is installed. Compared to child protection zones, everything from the designation rate of senior protection zones, the number of designated areas, the extension distance of protection zones, and the installation of speed enforcement equipment is insufficient.
Maybe that’s why? According to the comparison results of traffic accidents in OECD member countries published by the Korea Road Traffic Authority in 2021, as of 2019, the number of deaths in walking accidents per 100,000 people aged 65 or older in Korea was the highest among OECD countries. The average of OECD member countries is 2.5, but Korea has a uniquely high figure of 9.7.
Singapore’s Senior Citizens’ Areas were so different
In the case of the elderly protection area, among the 47 surveyed areas that include road sections with two or more round-trip lanes, unmanned speed enforcement equipment is installed in only four places, and only one out of ten places is installed. Compared to child protection zones, everything from the designation rate of senior protection zones, the number of designated areas, the extension distance of protection zones, and the installation of speed enforcement equipment is insufficient.
Maybe that’s why? According to the comparison results of traffic accidents in OECD member countries published by the Korea Road Traffic Authority in 2021, as of 2019, the number of deaths in walking accidents per 100,000 people aged 65 or older in Korea was the highest among OECD countries. The average of OECD member countries is 2.5, but Korea has a uniquely high figure of 9.7.
Singapore’s Senior Citizens’ Areas were so different
According to the <Straight Times> report, the number of elderly pedestrians killed in traffic accidents in Singapore in 2022 is 23. Even if you compare it considering the population difference, you can see that it is significantly lower than Korea. In particular, when the silver zone alone was isolated, the total number of accidents involving elderly pedestrians decreased by 80%. But the Singapore government is not content with that.
In March, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority announced the pilot introduction of “Friendly Streets,” which 메이저사이트prioritizes pedestrian safety by further expanding the existing concept of school zones and silver zones. Even if it is not around schools or senior citizens’ facilities, the plan is to reduce vehicle entry in areas with many pedestrians and change them to give priority to pedestrians and bicycles. Designated friendly streets will widen sidewalks and install additional bike lanes instead of reducing car lanes and tightening speed limits.
At some point, many Korean politicians come to Singapore to learn about Singapore. Among OECD member countries, the first thing Korea should learn from Singapore, which has an unrivaled number of elderly traffic accident deaths, is how Singapore protects the elderly’s right to walk. “A country for old men”? Here it is.