Gwangju Police, Fully Committed to Establishing Advanced Traffic Culture

Intensive Crackdown on Drunk Driving and Commercial Vehicle Regulation Violations

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangju Police are making every effort to establish an advanced traffic culture.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency (Chief Choi Gwanho) announced on the 9th that it plans to continuously promote intensive crackdowns and publicity activities on major legal violations by drunk driving, motorcycles, and commercial vehicles to establish a "people first" advanced traffic culture and prevent traffic accidents.

With the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in Gwangju Metropolitan City, social distancing was raised to level 2 starting from the 1st, and the direction of police activities was shifted to "quarantine-oriented security activities."

At the beginning of this year, during the transition of drunk driving crackdown methods due to COVID-19 infection issues, drunk driving increased nationwide, and fatal accidents caused by drunk driving also surged in Gwangju.

Accordingly, since March 13, selective drunk driving crackdowns have been strengthened by significantly increasing the number of personnel and hours, resulting in a clear recent decline in traffic fatal accidents caused by drunk driving.

Since the motorcycle fatal accident on April 30, no fatal accidents have occurred.

The Gwangju Police consider drunk driving crackdowns to be the most important measure to prevent major traffic accidents and to block the social atmosphere of drunk driving. Therefore, they decided not to ease the crackdown despite the escalation of social distancing.

However, they plan to strictly adhere to quarantine guidelines at the crackdown sites.

They will also continue crackdowns on motorcycle legal violations, which have been a major cause of the increase in traffic fatal accidents in the Gwangju area.

When motorcycle-related traffic fatal accidents surged earlier this year, two rounds of intensive motorcycle crackdown periods were operated, achieving initial success in establishing law-abiding motorcycle driving and reducing traffic fatal accidents.

However, with the recent warmer weather and increased untact consumption due to the spread of COVID-19, the risks of not wearing helmets, speeding, and signal violations remain. Therefore, continuous crackdowns will be conducted on major legal violations, and minor offenses will be guided.

Additionally, considering the significant influence of commercial vehicles on traffic culture, a "commercial vehicle legal violation intensive crackdown period" is also being operated to spread an advanced traffic culture through law-abiding operation of commercial vehicles.

A Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency official said, "Drunk driving and motorcycle legal violations are directly linked to major traffic accidents, and the effectiveness of crackdowns is very high. Neglecting crackdowns poses a great threat to traffic safety. Despite the escalation of COVID-19 response levels, Gwangju Police will continue strong crackdowns as before, so please absolutely refrain from drunk driving."

He added, "We also ask motorcycle drivers to always wear helmets, thinking that helmets protect their lives, even in hot weather, and to comply with laws while driving."