On August 13, the Southern Gyeonggi Province Police Commission announced that it will invest KRW 3.1 billion in the Gyeonggi Province budget to install new ‘unmanned rear enforcement equipment’ at 90 locations in Gyeonggi Province to reduce the number of fatalities in serious traffic accidents.

‘Unmanned rear enforcement equipment’ is an enforcement device that photographs the rear license plate of a vehicle to detect traffic violations and issue fines. It recognizes the rear license plates of all vehicles, including regular vehicles (four-wheelers) and motorcycles (two-wheelers). In the case of current traffic enforcement CCTVs, the front license plate of the vehicle is recorded, making it difficult to enforce against two-wheeled vehicles such as motorcycles with rear license plates, but this device overcomes this shortcoming. Failure to wear a helmet is also subject to enforcement.

To this end, the Police Commission approved a plan in March to purchase KRW 3.1 billion worth of unmanned rear enforcement equipment in 2024.

Accordingly, the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police has completed procedures such as analyzing priority locations for multiple traffic accidents (using traffic accident risk indexes such as ‘risk of personal injury, death, and serious injury’) and field surveys for structural compatibility of the installation, and will begin field installation in September.

The newly installed ‘Unmanned Rear Traffic Enforcement Equipment’ will be installed in 90 high-traffic areas, including Jungangdong-sa Street in Jungwon-gu, Seongnam City, LG5 Cha Sam-gil in Suji-gu, Yongin City, Ansan Arts Culture Center in Ansan City, Gyeongsu-daero Film Chogyo-gyo Street in Suwon City, Yeonghwa Elementary Intersection in Gyeongsu-daero, Shinheung-ro Telephone Intersection in Bucheon City, and the rear gate of the city hall in Namyang-eup, Hwaseong City.

Once the installation is completed, the number of unmanned rear traffic enforcement equipment currently operating at 57 locations in the southern Gyeonggi Province will increase to 147. The Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency has posted administrative notices on the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency’s website (www.ggpolice.go.kr) and is soliciting residents’ opinions until August 20.

In addition, through the development of AI video analysis technology for unmanned traffic enforcement devices, the National Police Agency and the Korea Expressway Corporation are exploring ways to expand the scope and techniques for enforcement of traffic safety hazards, such as tailgating at intersections and right turn pause violations, and are continuously developing techniques to reduce the cost of device installation, such as two-way enforcement with a single device and full-lane turn enforcement.

“The Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly will actively consider how to support the expansion and operation of advanced traffic science equipment for the Autonomous Police to improve the efficiency of limited police manpower and reduce serious traffic accidents in the region,” said Kook Joong-beom, member of the Safety and Administration Committee of the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly.

Kang Kyung-ryang, chairman of the Gyeonggi Southern Autonomous Police Commission, said, “A comparative analysis of accident occurrences before the installation of the equipment in 2021 and after the installation in 2023 showed a 13.9 percent decrease in traffic accidents and a 23.1 percent decrease in traffic fatalities, confirming the effectiveness of traffic safety. We will strive to establish a proper traffic culture for two-wheelers through the expansion of rear enforcement equipment and strengthen communication with local communities, such as traffic safety briefings for residents.”

In 2023, a total of 3,183 two-wheeler traffic accidents occurred in South Gyeonggi Province, and 172,532 violations of laws and regulations were enforced, and the average social cost of traffic accidents was estimated to be about KRW 6,890 million per severely injured person, KRW 520 million per slightly injured person, and KRW 533,379 million per fatality. (Estimation and Evaluation of Traffic Accident Costs in 2022 by Korea Expressway Transportation Corporation)