The Korea Expressway Transportation Corporation announced on the 24th that tunnel traffic accidents and deaths have increased by more than 40% over the past five years.
Over the past five years (2016-2020), tunnel traffic accidents have increased 44.1% from 535 in 2016 to 771 in 2020. During the same period, traffic accidents decreased by 1.3 percent annually, but tunnel traffic accidents increased by 9.6 percent annually.
As of 2020, there were 2,742 tunnels installed nationwide, with 86.5 percent installed in eight provinces, including Gyeonggi and Gangwon. Over the past five years, 54.0 percent of tunnel traffic accidents have occurred in Gyeonggi-do (1016 cases), Seoul (626 cases), and Busan (295 cases).
Due to the nature of the tunnel, where most of the car rental accidents were banned, 88.5%, there were more types of rear-end collisions than collisions. This emphasizes the importance of securing sufficient safety distance in the tunnel.
Tunnel traffic accidents occurred the most in May and June when external activities became more frequent. By time of occurrence, 70.6% of tunnel traffic accidents occurred during the week, most frequently between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., when concentration is likely to decrease.
The tunnel where traffic accidents occurred the most frequently is the Jungwon Tunnel in Gyeonggi-do, which has caused 40 traffic accidents in the past five years. Busan Hwangnyeong Tunnel followed with 37 cases and Baekyang Tunnel with 33.
Ko Young-woo, head of the Transportation AI Big Data Convergence Center at the Korea Expressway Transportation Corporation, said, “It is most important to decelerate and secure safe distance when entering and exiting the tunnel.