20% of Drivers "Do Not Comply with Mandatory Stop on Right Turn"

One in five drivers did not comply with the 'mandatory stop for right turns' introduced last year.

AXA Insurance announced on the 11th that it conducted the '2023 Driver Traffic Safety Awareness Survey' targeting 1,400 licensed drivers aged 19 and older. Among all respondents, 93.1% said they were aware of the mandatory stop for right turns. However, 22.3% of the total respondents admitted that they do not comply well with this regulation.

According to the National Police Agency's 'Yearly and Monthly Status of Right Turn Traffic Accidents (2018?2023),' since the introduction of the mandatory stop for right turns, there were a total of 14,211 related accidents from February to November last year, which is 848 cases (5.6%) fewer than the same period the previous year. However, the number of fatalities increased by 13.4%, from 89 to 101. It appears that non-compliance with traffic laws still occurs and has influenced the rise in fatalities.

Regarding the regulation that allows slow driving when there are no vehicles or pedestrians intending to pass during a mandatory stop for right turns, 89% of respondents said they were aware of this. Additionally, 86.2% recognized that a complete stop is mandatory at unregulated crosswalks within school zones. More than half of respondents were also well aware of the pedestrian priority road protection obligation (85.2%) and the counterclockwise traffic rule within roundabouts (68.8%).

Awareness varied significantly for some regulations. Only 30.1% of respondents were aware of the 'mandatory fire extinguisher installation' requirement, which was expanded from vehicles with seven seats to those with five or more seats through recent amendments to the Road Traffic Act in the past one to two years. Vehicle fires can spread rapidly due to fuel and various oils, causing extensive material and human damage. Initial extinguishing with a fire extinguisher inside the vehicle before the fire truck arrives is crucial. According to statistics from the National Fire Agency, about 13 vehicle fires occur daily on average, with accidents involving five-seat vehicles accounting for about 50% of the total. Furthermore, 61.6% of respondents were unaware of the expanded penalty system, effective from July 2022, which imposes fines on employers when commercial vehicle drivers violate traffic laws.

An AXA Insurance official stated, "Although awareness of some Road Traffic Act amendments, such as the mandatory stop for right turns, is high, pedestrian safety is still threatened by drivers' non-compliance with the laws." They added, "AXA Insurance will continue to make steady efforts to raise drivers' awareness and encourage compliance with traffic laws through regular driver traffic safety awareness surveys and active traffic safety campaigns."