Have you heard of “residential roads”?
A residential road, or residential street, refers to a road or street between 9 and 12 meters wide.
Much of our everyday lives involve residential roads or streets. As separate sidewalks do not exist on most of them, sometimes accidents involving pedestrians occur.
Average Number of Traffic Accidents in Seoul per Year, by road type (2018 – 2020)
All road types 218,909 → On residential streets 103,425 (47.2%)
Residential roads make up 88 percent of the roads in Yangcheon-Gu, 87.1 percent of those in Seongbuk-Gu, 82.3 percent in Gwangjin-Gu, and 82.1 percent in Gwanak-Gu.
The researchers conducted a survey of 1,000 Seoulites on their perceptions of safety on residential roads.
Receivers of the survey were asked how safe or unsafe they felt on residential streets in their neighborhoods. The highest percentage of those surveyed (35.2%) consider residential roads near their houses as “fairly unsafe.” Those who think they are “neither safe nor unsafe” and “fairly safe” came next at 34.6% and 24.4%, respectively.
Of particular note is that people in their 30s and 40s, those living in northeast and northwest parts of Seoul, as well as those dwelling in single-family homes, multi-family houses and non-residential buildings have a higher probability of feeling unsafe.
More than four in five Seoul survey respondents (82.9%) perceive road crashes as the biggest safety hazard on residential streets, followed by limited capacity to rapidly respond to disasters (77.7%), tripping, slipping, or falling (58.7%), and crime (49.7%).
Aside from that, motor vehicles parked or stopped in an unauthorized manner, stacked objects, and litter (including illegally dumped garbage) were cited as problematic.
Autonomous gu-district offices are limited in their ability to manage residential roads due to their insufficient manpower and resources. Under these circumstances, engaging relevant experts and community members is imperative.
Suggestion from the Seoul Institute
It is advisable for the SMG to lay down standardized guidelines for maintaining and managing residential streets and have each of the 25 gu-district offices adhere to them.
Source: Sangyoung Shin. 2020. “Ways to manage residential roads in Seoul“. Seoul: Seoul Institute.
Source: Sangyoung Shin. 2020. “Ways to manage residential roads in Seoul“. [2]
Links
[1] https://www.si.re.kr/node/65269
[2] http://global.si.re.kr/content/improving-management-local-neighborhood-roads-seoul
[3] http://www.si.re.kr/%23
[4] http://facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.re.kr%2Fnode%2F67609&t=Is%20the%20Road%20in%20front%20of%20My%20House%20Safe%20Enough%3F
[5] http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.re.kr%2Fnode%2F67609&text=Is%20the%20Road%20in%20front%20of%20My%20House%20Safe%20Enough%3F
[6] http://www.si.re.kr/cardnews