Daegu City Launches Full Implementation of 'Safe Speed 5030'... Urban Vehicle Speed Limited to 50 km/h

Exclusive Roads for Automobiles, Excluding Some Arterial Roads

The photo shows Beulsan Mountain in Yuga-eup, Dalseong-gun, Daegu City, covered with royal azaleas (rhododendrons) on the 11th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Jae-ho] Daegu City announced on the 16th that starting from the 17th, it will implement the 'Daegu Safe Speed 5030' policy, adjusting urban traffic speeds to 50 km/h on main roads and 30 km/h on side streets to ensure pedestrian safety.

With this measure, sections previously limited to speeds above 60 km/h will decrease from 65% (501 km) to 35% (279 km), while sections with a 50 km/h speed limit will increase from 35% (266 km) to 65% (489 km), more than 1.8 times.

However, expressways (Sincheon-daero 80 km/h), urban outskirts roads (Biseul-ro 70~60 km/h), and some major arterial roads (Dalgubeol-daero, Apsan Sunhwan-ro, Sincheon-dong-ro 60 km/h) are excluded from this policy considering traffic circulation and mobility.

Daegu City explained that reducing vehicle speed by just 10 km/h significantly lowers the likelihood of fatalities (probability of severe injury or death decreases from 92.6% to 72.7%). Among the seven major metropolitan cities, Daegu has the second highest average vehicle speed, and speeding accounts for the largest proportion of traffic accident fatalities. Last year, there were 103 traffic accident deaths in the city, an increase of 6 from 97 the previous year.

Yoon Jeong-hee, Director of the Daegu City Transportation Bureau, urged, "Through navigation updates and adherence to speed limits, we ask for active interest and cooperation so that Daegu can take a step closer to becoming a city safe from traffic accidents."