Three Cases of Road Traffic Act Violations in Intensive Crackdown
Not Wearing Safety Helmets, Watching Videos, Illegal U-Turns, etc.
At 2 p.m. on the 25th, in front of a 8-lane road near Wondang Elementary School in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, a man riding a motorcycle wearing a helmet slowed down, and a police officer monitoring traffic violations approached and spoke to him.
The driver was caught making an illegal U-turn by crossing the center line in the school zone near the elementary school. On the spot, a fine of 40,000 KRW and 30 penalty points were immediately imposed. When asked by reporters if there was any special reason, the driver hurriedly left, saying, "I was trying to go to the hospital because I was sick."
At around 2 p.m. on the 25th, police conducted intensive crackdowns on child protection zones near Wondang Elementary School in Gwanak-gu, Seoul. [Photo by Seohee Lee]
The Gwanak Police Station conducted a focused crackdown on school zones during after-school hours from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. that day to prevent children's safety accidents. Eight traffic police officers and three patrol cars were deployed in the school zones near elementary schools where vehicle traffic is concentrated, focusing on cracking down on drunk driving, signal violations, and using mobile phones while driving.
Na Young-joo, head of the traffic division at Gwanak Police Station, explained the purpose of the crackdown, saying, "Currently, we conduct traffic violation enforcement in school zones such as elementary schools and kindergartens more than twice a week. By concentrating police officers during children's dismissal times, we aim to create a safe traffic environment."
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has been conducting focused crackdowns on school zones during dismissal hours more than twice a week since the 4th of last month?once weekly led by the city and once or more weekly led by individual police stations. The original deadline for the focused crackdown was until the 26th of this month, but it has been extended indefinitely.
During the initial focused crackdown on school zones from the 4th to the 22nd of last month, 22 cases of drunk driving and 1,293 cases of traffic violations such as signal violations and failure to yield to pedestrians were detected. Traffic accidents involving children in school zones decreased by 40% (from 5 cases to 3 cases) compared to the same period last year.
Around 2 p.m. on the 25th, police were cracking down on traffic violations near Wondang Elementary School in Gwanak-gu, Seoul. [Photo by Seohee Lee]
During the focused crackdown conducted by Gwanak Police Station that day, a total of three violations of the Road Traffic Act were detected, including illegal U-turns. These included one illegal U-turn, one case of not wearing a safety helmet, and one case of watching videos while driving. No drunk driving was detected.
On the same day, the overall crackdown results from all police stations under the jurisdiction of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency detected a total of 252 violations, including one case of drunk driving and signal violations or failure to yield to pedestrians. The one drunk driving case was detected in front of Seoul Dongsin Elementary School in Seongbuk-gu, with a measured blood alcohol concentration of 0.077%, which is at the license suspension level.
The police plan to continue year-round enforcement at elementary schools in their jurisdiction. Head Na said, "Compliance with traffic laws in school zones cannot be emphasized enough," and added, "We ask for drivers' active cooperation to foster a safe traffic culture."
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