School Zones
Child Road Safety Spaces
Image by Visviva
‘School Zones’ are spaces within 300 metres from a school’s main entrance, that abide by certain rules in order to increase road safety for children.
Between 1992 and 2014, the number of children in South Korea killed in car accidents fell from 1,566 to 53: a dramatic and positive reduction considered to be down to both changes in policy and the implementation of local projects with a focus on child road safety.
Along with changing policy and local safety projects, areas around schools have adopted specific regulations leading to an increase in child road safety. As of 2012, the number of school zones in Korea exceeded 9,000, normalising slower vehicles and driver caution in the vicinity of schools, reducing risk to children and reinforcing a culture of road safety awareness.
Location
South Korea
Organisation Korean Government
Partner organisations Safe Kids Korea Korea Green Mothers Society Scale of catchment Neighbourhood
Beneficiary Students & Caregivers
Built environment component Planning Policy; Public space; Street
INTERVENTION DESIGN LEARNINGS
Location
Special zones consider a radius (ref. 300m) from a school’s main entrance.
Spatial/physical
Streets within the zone abide by additional more strict traffic rules (ref. additional speed limit of 30 km/h). Drivers can have their license suspended if caught to be breaking it – a more severe punishment than in other areas.
Visual/Aesthetic
Painted school walls and traffic signage alert drivers entering the area.
Material: kid-proof street pavement reduce probabilities of kid related accidents and reduces braking distance.
Process
The Korea Green Mothers Society organises safe ‘guiding activities’ to walk children to and from school, whilst Safe Kids Korea work to inform families how to keep their children safe, advocate for child safety-increasing laws, and work to install environmental elements that increase road safety.
Implementation
The cause of protecting children's lives has a strong appeal with politicians and local authorities. This means that financial support and fund-raising activities are easier to implement, compared to other transport issues or challenges.
Source
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