[The Fountain] Dilemma of school zone lanes

Most school zones still have narrow streets with no distinction between the sidewalk and the road.

WIE MOON-HEEThe author is a national team reporter of the JoongAng Ilbo. School zones and children safety areas were introduced in 1995 to protect children from traffic accidents. The area within a 300 to 500 meter (980 to 1,640 foot) radius from the main entrance of a school is designated as a school zone. According to the National Police Agency (NPA), there are 16,698 school zones around the country as of the end of October.

This includes 6,923 kindergartens, 6,282 elementary schools, 3,211 day care centers, 191 special education and foreign schools and 191 private academies. Parking is not allowed in the school zone, and the speed limit is 30 kilometers (19 miles) per hour.

After parking in the zone became completely banned in October 2021, the NPA received many complaints. The resident priority parking spaces within school zones have also been abolished. The residents who enjoyed the perk complained, “My mother sent kimchi from home. How am I supposed to move it?” Couriers also complained, “Do I have to use a cart to deliver packages to each house now?” Everyone agrees school children should be protected, but when it comes to school zone restrictions, they show double standards.

The same goes for the speed limit in the school zone. If there is an elementary school in the area, an eight-lane road should have a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour. As drivers’ complaints continued, some areas raised the speed limit to 40 kilometers per hour when it is not school opening or closing times.

Some areas even raised the speed limit to 50 kilometers per hour at night. But that doesn’t mean the police are comfortable with the adjustment, as they cannot handle the backlash if accidents occur after rasing the speed limit.

On Dec. 2, a 9-year-old elementary school child was hit and killed in a school zone near the back gate of Eonbuk Elementary School in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. Most school zones have narrow streets with no distinction between the sidewalk and the road. When parents asked the district office to designate the streets around the elementary school as one-way streets, local residents opposed because they would have to detour to get to their homes. Only after the death of a student, Gangnam District said it would change the roads around the school to one-way streets and install sidewalks.

“Rather than blaming the driver, the police and the district office, I ask myself why I didn’t pick up my child. That’s what I regret most,” said the mother of the student killed. It is heartbreaking that she has to blame herself for the accident the most.