Social Value
Our attitude towards
School Zones
In the first half of 2020, there was heated online debate regarding School Zones. It was because the revised law, the so-called "the Min-sik Law" passed the National Assembly and took effect in consequence of the death caused by a traffic accident of a nine-year-old boy called "Min-sik" who was crossing the crosswalk in front of his school located in Asan, Chungnam in September of 2019. While many citizens agreed on the purpose of this law, there was a public opinion via petition to Blue House against the law arguing that the law applies excessive punishment to drivers. This debate naturally encouraged people to talk about many related topics, including the car navigation system. In the middle of this situation, T map recognized that many drivers were confused about clear standards of School Zones. We were deeply concerned about the best way to protect both drivers and children, so we added a new function to our system.
Q.
What was the greatest concern
of T map
regarding enforcement
of the Min-sik Law?
We have been focusing on provision of conveniences for drivers. How can we inform drivers of the best route? How can we help them operate the GPS navigation in the easiest way? How can we provide benefits for drivers as much as possible? These have been our main concerns. However, in front of this social issue, we thought it was necessary to consider even safety of pedestrians beyond our driver-oriented attention. It is to develop further and enhance our system. GPS navigation that is also considerate about safety of pedestrians will make the entire society safe, by upgrading one step further beyond giving a mere route guide. Above all, we wanted to contribute to preventing accidents in School Zones.
Q.
How do school zones fulfill
T map's social values?
Setting social values as corporate management philosophy, SK Group is applying this to all management activities. As a member of SK Group, we were convinced that keeping safety of people meant fulfilling social values. We realized that it was important to keep safety for not only drivers but also pedestrians, considering that many unexpected events take place at School Zones. We believed that social values could be fulfilled by adding the function of accident prevention in School Zones to our system. The functions added for safety at School Zones may be a bit difficult to use in the beginning, but it will definitely contribute to preventing any possible accidents in many different driving situations.
Q.
Please explain the notification
function of School Zones.
To assure safety of pedestrians at School Zones, we considered many different methods. What matters most is the awareness of drivers that they are approaching the School Zones "here and now." To strengthen the notification effect, we decided to include a child' real voice. We used a child's voice because we thought that the driver could recognize the presence of a School Zone and importance of regulated speed with a higher probability if the notification is given in a child's voice.
What is a School Zone?
School Zones embrace a lot more areas than the mere neighborhood
of elementary schools. They constitute a certain section out
of roads around facilities for children aged under 13 such as kindergartens,
private institutes, elementary schools, special education
schools and daycare centers. They aim to prevent traffic
accidents by installing traffic safety facilities and road accessory
materials to assure a safe space of movement of children around
school. At School Zones, drivers must diminish speed within 30
km per hour, taking precautions not to violate this regulation
speed, otherwise, Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific
Crimes can be applied.
What is the Min-sik Law?
The Min-sik Law refers to amended "Road Traffic Law" and "Act
on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes" aiming to prevent
traffic accidents of children by expanding traffic safety facilities
inside the School Zones and reinforcing punishment of drivers.
According to new Laws, it is obligatory to install unmanned monitoring
equipment inside the School Zones. It aims to enhance
assistance in traffic safety of children by enlarging the number
of traffic lights and speed limit signs at the crosswalk. If the accident
led to the child's death, the driver can be sentenced to life
imprisonment. The Minsik Law was approved by the National
Assembly on December 10 of 2019 and came into effect on March
25 of 2020.
Law amendment proposition of
"The Road Traffic Act"
and "Act on the
Aggravated Punishment,
etc. of
Specific Crimes" related to the
Min-sik Law
* Clauses 4 & 5 under Article 12 of the Road Traffic Act:
"Designation and management of School Zones"
Accidents will be actively prevented by strengthening safety
equipment inside School Zones as follows.
Clause 4 under Article 12
Obligatory installation of unmanned traffic monitoring devices
in all School Zones, & consecutive and annual installation programmed
Clause 5 under Article 12
Installation of safety facilities in School Zones, i.e. signal flags
and Speed Limit signs at the crosswalk, safety signs on crosswalk
safety and speed bumps
Q.
Is the notification function
of School Zones
added in
8.1 version of T map?
Yes, we added the option of children protection routes. Drivers can opt for routes avoiding School Zones as much as possible to assure safety of both drivers and children. However, this does not mean that School Zones are always excluded from the routes. From a realist perspective, in case there is no detour route because the destination is inside the School Zone or in case the detour can take more than 10 minutes causing inconvenience to the driver, we inform the driver is guided to pass by the School Zone for his/her convenience and slow down.
Q.
Are there any messages you would like to
deliver to T map users?
We aim to provide GPS navigation services reducing traffic accidents and fulfilling social values while putting priority on safety for both drivers and pedestrians. We hope that you can keep supporting us and showing constant love for T map. We are deeply thankful to all our T map users.
How effective is
the Min-sik Law?
Since March 25 of 2020, which changes would have brought to drivers? To compare before and after implementation of the Min-sik Law, we selected ten places with the greatest number of speeding, sudden deceleration and sudden acceleration that occurred in School Zones, and made comparison with the data of June. According to the analysis result, the traffic volume of ten places with the greatest amount of acceleration increased by 16.6% from about 330,000 cases of March to about 390,000 cases of June. On the other hand, the number of speeding reduced by about 4,500 cases, showing diminishment of speeding rate by 5.0%p compared to traffic volume. The biggest drop of rate was observed in the neighborhood of Gyesu Elementary School of Siheung, Gyeonggi-do, while the smallest drop of rate happened near Eungbong Elementary School of Seoul. It is estimated that the speeding rate by Eungbong Elementary school did not significantly decrease because the speed limit was set to 60km per hour and had high traffic volume.
Comparison of school zone
speed changes
before and after
the enforcement of the Min-sik Law
| School | Speed limit | Speeding rate (2020. 3.) |
Speeding rate (2020. 6.) |
Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gyeonggi, Siheung-si Gyesu Elementary School |
30km/h |
43.4%
|
32.1% |
11.3%p
|
| Seoul, Seongdong-gu Eungbong Elementary School |
60km/h |
8.6%
|
7.5% |
1.1%p
|
* 1 week before implementation : 2020. 3. 16. ~ 22.
* 1 week after implementation : 2020. 6. 8. ~ 14.
* Speeding rate = (The number of speeding/ traffic) x 100
Moreover, speed limit in ten places with the greatest amount of rapid deceleration and acceleration in School Zones all exceeded 50km per hour. The traffic volume of March was approximately 560,000 cases, and that of June was 620,000 cases, showing increase by 11%. However, 343 cases of rapid deceleration and acceleration were registered, presenting decrease by 6%. No increase was registered compared to the traffic volume, and this phenomenon demonstrates that T map users were driving with more precaution in School Zones. Taking a close look at it, we can discover that reduction rate near Samsung Elementary School of Anyang, with the highest number of rapid deceleration and acceleration in March turned out to be 0.3%p, displaying the biggest figure. Since the neighborhood of Somang Kindergarten of Seoul is accessible to Olympic-daero and Nodeul-ro, the traffic volume was twice as high as other regions. However, the area showed the lowest rate of rapid deceleration and acceleration with only 0.6%. It is interpreted that people have relatively high awareness of the character of this area as a School Zone for there are Heukseok Elementary School and large-scale apartment complexes nearby.
Comparison of school zone rapid
deceleration/acceleration
before and after
the enforcement of the Min-sik Law
| School | Speed limit | Rapid decelera -tion /accele- ration rate (2020. 3.) |
Rapid decelera -tion /accele- ration rate (2020. 6.) |
Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gyeonggi, Siheung-si Gyesu Elementary School |
60km/h |
1.4%
|
1.1% |
0.3%p
|
| Seoul, Seongdong-gu Eungbong Elementary School |
50km/h |
0.6%
|
0.5% |
0.1%p
|
* 1 week before implementation : 2020. 3. 16. ~ 22.
* 1 week after implementation : 2020. 6. 8. ~ 14.
* Speeding rate = (The number of speeding/ traffic) x 100
Mission of creating
safe School Zones
According to the report of the Korean National Police Agency, as of July of 2019, no less than 501 places out of 16,789 School Zones have the speed limit of over 50km per hour. Many people thought that the speed limit in School Zones corresponded to 30km per hour. However, in reality, it differed from 20km to 60km per hour. From 2020 on, the speed limit in School Zones will be adjusted under 30km per hour. Nonetheless, realistically speaking, it is difficult to keep 30km per hour near the intersections with high traffic volume, and the old facilities in the School Zones are being replaced in stages. Considering this, we will have to give more time to see if the Min-sik Law bears desired fruit in the future. The controversy about effectiveness of the Min-sik Law will possibly go on for a while, but there is little room for doubt about safety of children as top priority. Along with changes in social awareness and systems, T map will take part in the mission of pursuing social values for both drivers and pedestrians With this initiative of adding notification functions of School Zones and children protection routes, we hope that we can anticipate an ideal
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