Busiest Speed Camera Mounted Over Busan-bound Highway

“Be aware of cameras monitoring vehicles speeding downhill or violating express lanes.”

A camera installed last year at the 174.4-kilometer point on the Busan-bound Highway 1 caught the largest number of violations at 38,886 vehicles. Tickets worth a combined 2.25 billion won were issued.

Records submitted yesterday by police to ruling party lawmaker Park Tae-hae said 10 speed cameras occupied the “top 10 list,” catching a combined 283,962 violations last year. Based on photo evidence collected from them, speeding tickets were issued for nearly 17 billion won.

A gentle downhill section passes through the point on Highway 1 near the Gumi intersection, where the four-lane highway doubles. Thus authorities say drivers tend to speed up past that point, leading to the largest number of violations on tape.

Second in catching violators was a camera mounted over the Shiheung exit toward the Guro exit in Seoul. It caught 29,913 violations worth 1.9 billion won in fines. The steep ramp there makes cars tend to speed up while passing the point.

Third to fifth places were the camera at the 352.4-kilometer point on the Seoul-bound Highway 1 (24,586 cases amounting to 1.87 billion won); that at the 284.6-kilometer point on the Busan-bound Highway 1 (24,277 cases amounting to 1.76 billion won); and that at the 338.6-kilometer point on the Seoul-bound Highway 1 (24,732 cases amounting to 1.76 billion won).

All these cameras are mounted at points where weekend traffic tends to congest, with vehicles getting caught running on the high occupancy vehicle lane.

More violations were recorded on Highway 1 since it has more HOV lanes in the country. Its speed limit is 100 kilometers an hour, about 10 kilometers lower than newly constructed highways.

A camera was newly installed at the 35.2-kilometer point on the Seoul-bound Highway 1 (30,391 cases amounting to 1.65 billion won), and mostly caught drivers who failed to upgrade their navigation systems.

Another camera mounted in front of Jincheon Girls’ Middle School in Jincheon County, North Chungcheong Province, fined 31,695 drivers 1.39 billion won who were speeding out of the highway tollgate.

In the first two quarters this year, cameras mounted in front of the GS-Caltex station on Incheon Airport Boulevard recorded the largest number of violations nationwide.

One of them facing the Shinbul exit caught 63,268 vehicles amounting to 2.53 billion won, and the other one facing the airport terminal 30,241 vehicles amounting to 1.17 billion won. The location is the borderline between a 100-kilometer highway and a 80-kilometer local road, causing driver confusion.

Lawmaker Park said, “The more a camera records violations, the more likely an accident will occur near that point. Drivers should pay special attention.”

sunshade@donga.com