Pedestrian Traffic Accidents Decrease in Seoul... Why Is the Daechi-dong Academy District an Exception?

Seoul Metropolitan Council Analyzes Recent Three-Year Statistics
Daechi-dong Academy District in Gangnam Sees Sharp 12% Increase

Over the past three years, while the total number of pedestrian traffic accidents in Seoul decreased by 1%, the academy district in Daechi-dong, Gangnam saw a sharp increase of approximately 12%. This has led to calls for improved safety measures.

According to the 50th issue of the "Seoul City Budget and Finance Analysis" published by the Seoul Metropolitan Council on January 4, 2026, pedestrian traffic accidents across Seoul decreased by an average of 1.2% per year from 2022 to the previous year. During the same period, Gangnam-gu saw an average annual increase of 2.2%, and the Daechi-dong academy district experienced a surge of 11.6% per year. These figures are based on an analysis of statistics from the Korea Road Traffic Authority's Traffic Accident Analysis System.

The report states that over the past 10 years, pedestrian traffic accidents in the Daechi-dong academy district gradually declined from 42 cases in 2015 to a low of 28 cases in 2021. However, the numbers then rose to 45 cases in 2022, 60 in 2023, and 56 in 2024.

The academy district in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

From 2022 to 2024, other academy districts in Seoul, such as Mok-dong in Yangcheon-gu and Junggye-dong in Nowon-gu, also saw increases in pedestrian traffic accidents, averaging 73.2% and 6.9% respectively. However, both areas recorded only 15 and 18 pedestrian accidents over the three years, respectively, which is a significant difference compared to Daechi-dong's 161 cases.

During the analysis period, people aged 65 and older accounted for the highest proportion of pedestrian traffic accident victims in Seoul at 24.6%. In Gangnam-gu, those aged 21 to 30 made up the largest group at 26.7%, while in the Daechi-dong academy district, individuals aged 13 to 20 accounted for the highest share at 26.1%.

The city council analyzed that "Dogok-ro, the main road in the Daechi-dong academy district, has six to eight lanes, but traffic congestion occurs due to vehicles parking or stopping along the main road and cars trying to enter academies located in alleys."

As of 2024, there are 191.7 private academies per 10,000 students in Seoul, but Gangnam-gu has the highest number among the city's 25 districts, with 421.2 academies per 10,000 students. Although there are 1,422 academies concentrated in Daechi-dong, the rate of designating child protection zones in the academy district is relatively low compared to areas in front of schools.

Among elementary schools in Seoul, nearly 100% of those eligible have been designated as child protection zones, while the rates are 84.4% for special schools and 66.3% for kindergartens. However, for academies, the designation rate does not even reach 1%.

In the Daechi-dong academy district, a total of 18 child protection zones have been designated: 13 for academies, 2 for daycare centers, and one each for an elementary school, a kindergarten, and another facility. However, it has been revealed that none of the 13 academy child protection zones have designated school routes, and as a result, facilities such as closed-circuit (CC) TV cameras have not been installed.

The city council proposed several short-term measures to address these issues, including applying traffic regulations for child protection zones in academy districts, improving traffic safety facilities, and managing illegal parking and stopping. For the medium term, they recommended adjusting the intensity of management according to risk factors by time of day and establishing more sophisticated standards for operating pedestrian safety zones.