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| A signboard showing the speed of traveling cars is set up at a school zone in Seoul, in this undated file photo. Korea Times file |
By Nam Hyun-woo
Debates over the effectiveness of traffic regulations for school zones are heating up following the death of another child hit by a drunk driver in Daejeon, Sunday, the latest case of death in the areas designed to protect child pedestrians.
According to Daejeon's Dunsan Police Station, a 10-year-old elementary school student died early Sunday after being hit by a car driven by a 60-year-old drunk driver on the previous day.
The incident took place in a school zone in Dunsan-dong, where the victim was walking along with three others. A car driven by a drunk driver hit the victim having crossed over to the side of the road where they were walking after crashing into a median strip. The other three students sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver was under the influence of alcohol, above the level of license cancellation. Police plan to file for an arrest warrant for the driver on charges of manslaughter and violating the Road Traffic Act.
Sunday's tragedy was the latest fatal car accident reported in a school zone, where motorists are required to drive slower than 30 kilometers per hour to ensure children's safety.
On Dec. 2, an elementary school student was killed after being hit by a car driven by a drunk driver in a school zone in front of an elementary school in southern Seoul. The driver did not take any emergency measures and fled the scene, resulting in the child's death.
On July 7, an elementary school student died in a school zone in front of a school in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, after being hit by an excavator.
Korea has been implementing stricter regulations since March 2020, after an elementary school student named Kim Min-sik, 9, was killed in September 2019 while crossing a street in a school zone in Asan, South Chungcheong Province.
His death triggered the introduction of new regulations known as the "Min-sik Law," aimed at imposing harsher punishment for drivers responsible for traffic accidents in school zones.
However, there have been doubts and complaints about the stringent implementation of these rules and police data has shown that the number of car accidents in school zones has not significantly changed after the law took effect.
On Sunday, the presidential office announced 15 policy tasks that it selected among public proposals, including "a review of Min-sik Law."
The office said the speed limit in school zones does not always reflect the actual pedestrian traffic, causing inconvenience, thus it will develop plans for flexible application of the speed limit.
In Daegu and Daejeon speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour in school zones are allowed at night. But opposition is growing to this flexibility on the basis that it goes against the purpose of having school zones.
Against this backdrop, lawmakers are also divided over how to improve the school zones to better protect children.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Rep. Kim Yong-min proposed a revision to the Road Traffic Act to strengthen the responsibilities of central and municipal governments on car accidents in school zones to improve protective measures.
On the other hand, DPK Rep. Yang Kyung-sook proposed a separate revision to the Road Traffic Act that would allow authorities to adjust the maximum speed limit in school zones depending on the pedestrian traffic at different times.
