Accident Surge, Traffic Measures Linked

Government traffic measures, such as granting pardons to traffic offenders and withdrawing model traffic cameras are being blamed for a surge in traffic accidents.

A study also found that raising speed limit, which is under consideration by the government, is likely to further increase the traffic accident rate because it does not take road conditions or safety into consideration.

According to a report titled: “How to Set Reasonable Speed Limits” published by Hanyang University and obtained by Dong-A Ilbo on January 19, the current speed limit on most local highways was set according to design speed. The university produced the report at the request of the National Police Agency.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation guidelines define design speed as “the speed at which a driver with average driving skill can drive safely and comfortably on any section of the road.”

At a ministerial meeting on regulation reform in May 2005, the government laid out measures to improve traffic control, including raising the maximum speed on highways across the nation by 10km per hour. The decision was made following indications that too many drivers have to pay fines because speed limits are not in line with reality.

Yet, out of 25 national expressways, only five of them have speed limits below design speed, including the recently built Seohaean Expressway.

If the speed limit is raised as the government measure suggests, it would exceed design speed limits on most expressways.

Lim Sam-jin, a professor of traffic engineering at Hanyang University, said, “Design speed is the most important factor in setting expressway speed limits. Under any circumstances, speed limits should not exceed design speed for safety reasons.”

In other countries, maximum speed is generally determined at about 10% below the design speed on the road, because there is a close correlation between speed limits and traffic accidents.

The research team at Hanyang University surveyed the number of traffic accidents at 130 points on local roadways where the maximum speed was raised and found 82 points, or 63.1 percent, showed an increase in traffic accidents.

An insurance official said, “The number of traffic accidents and the loss ratio, the ratio of incurred claims to earned premiums, of insurance companies have been on the increase since the large-scale pardon on August 15 last year and the withdrawal of model traffic control cameras.”

Suk-Min Hong Sang-Hoon Kim smhong@donga.com sanhkim@donga.com