Leading Efforts to Address Inconveniences for the Visually Impaired
Removal of Illegal Installations on Tactile Paving and More
The Daegu Police Agency's Mobile Patrol Unit in North Gyeongsang Province has launched a large-scale initiative to improve facilities, aiming to ensure safe and convenient mobility rights for transportation-vulnerable groups, including people with visual impairments.
This initiative, undertaken ahead of the revised enforcement of the "Act on Promotion of Transportation Convenience for the Mobility Disadvantaged," is being recognized for going beyond simple complaint processing to deliver practical, on-site improvements.
From January to May this year, the Mobile Patrol Unit conducted a "Comprehensive Improvement of Facilities for the Transportation Vulnerable" campaign throughout Daegu. During this period, police officers listened directly to the concerns of visually impaired citizens and worked in collaboration with related organizations, such as the Daegu Association of the Visually Impaired, to develop concrete solutions.
On-site inspections focused on elements that significantly hinder the mobility of people with disabilities, including illegally parked vehicles on tactile paving blocks, malfunctioning audible pedestrian signals, and the absence of tactile warning strips on subway stairs.
As a result, the police sent a total of 117 official documents to related organizations, requesting improvements to 163 facilities. Of these, upgrades have been completed at 47 locations.
Major improvements include the removal of illegal installations from tactile paving blocks at 8 locations, maintenance of streetlights and security lights at 13 sites, repairs to traffic facilities such as medians, bollards, and potholes at 26 locations, and 25 on-site guidance actions regarding illegal street vendors and illegally parked or stopped vehicles.
The Mobile Patrol Unit has also worked to raise public awareness about protecting the transportation-vulnerable, not limiting its efforts to physical improvements alone. The unit produced and distributed 100 promotional leaflets to management offices of 10 apartment complexes and 7 market merchant associations, helping to build broader social consensus on ensuring mobility rights for transportation-vulnerable groups.
A representative of the Mobile Patrol Unit stated, "It is an important responsibility of the police to listen to the difficulties of transportation-vulnerable groups, including people with visual impairments, directly on-site and to achieve practical improvements. We will continue to carry out field-oriented policing activities focused on the transportation-vulnerable in the future."
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