Gyeonggi-do Holds First Meeting of 'Children's School Route Traffic Safety Council'

Strengthening Collaboration with Traffic Safety Agencies
to Prevent Recurring School Zone Accidents

Gyeonggi Province has decided to form the ‘Gyeonggi Province Children’s School Route Traffic Safety Council’ together with the Provincial Assembly, public institutions, specialized organizations, police, education office, and private organizations to create safe school routes for children and to promote effective traffic accident prevention activities.

Gyeonggi Province held the first meeting of the "Gyeonggi Province Children's School Route Traffic Safety Council" on the 20th at the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly and is taking a commemorative photo afterward. Provided by Gyeonggi Province

On the 20th, Gyeonggi Province held the first meeting of the ‘Gyeonggi Province Children’s School Route Traffic Safety Council’ at the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly.

This council was established in response to the active acceptance by the province of a five-minute speech made by Assemblyman Moon Seung-ho (Democratic Party, Seongnam 1) at the 378th extraordinary session of the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly on September 23 last year. At that time, Assemblyman Moon stated, “In May 2023, a traffic accident occurred in a school zone of an elementary school in Gyeonggi Province,” and proposed, “School route safety should not be considered the sole responsibility of schools and parents. Local governments, police, parents, and the assembly should cooperate to form a ‘School Route Safety Council.’”

Although collaboration among various related organizations is necessary for children’s school route traffic safety, including safety education, traffic guidance during commuting hours, and support for installing pedestrian safety auxiliary facilities, cooperation among institutions has so far been limited to short-term or one-time operations focused only on some high-interest issues, lacking systematic promotion.

Accordingly, this council includes participation from Gyeonggi Province’s Metropolitan Transportation Policy Division and Road Safety Division, Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly, National Police Agency, Gyeonggi Transportation Training Institute, Korea Transportation Safety Authority, Korea Road Traffic Authority, Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, and private organizations (Gyeonggi Green Mothers’ Association, Model Drivers’ Association).

The province plans to share key policies and mutual needs for traffic accident prevention and reduction by each institution to promote highly effective traffic accident prevention activities. The council will have department heads from each institution attend and hold regular meetings at least once every six months to discuss traffic safety-related issues among individual institutions. It will be developed and operated as a ‘permanent council’ that practically discusses and decides on overall traffic safety issues that may arise within the province.

Yoon Tae-wan, Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Policy Division of Gyeonggi Province, said, “The traffic safety of children’s school routes, who are the future of the Republic of Korea, is a top priority task,” and added, “Starting with the Children’s School Route Traffic Safety Council, we will strengthen cooperation with related institutions to create safe commuting routes and do our best to prevent safety-related problems in advance.”