Due to the steady economic growth since the 1960s, we have made a remarkable change in now our society travels. More people than ever before are travelling by automobile. This has meant an improvement in the speed and convenience for many travellers. But the change to heavier automobile use has caused problems, namely, congestion and motor vehicle collisions. The number of accidents causing fatalities, injuries, and property damages is rising day by day. Recognizing the seriousness of these problems, we have instituted a traffic accident education campaign across the nation. The number of vehicles in Korea has exceeded ten million. The number of driver's license holders has risen to 18 million. Road length, however, is only about 82,000 km. This has caused our traffic problems to worsen because the growth rate per year of road length is low compared with growth rate for vehicles and driver's license holders. In 1996, 265,052 traffic accidents resulting in 12,653 fatalities and 355,962 injuries occurred in Korea. However, in spite of efforts to reduce raffic accidents undertaken by government and private traffic-related organizations, the number of accident and injuries in 1996 increased 6.5%, 22.6% and 7.3%, respectively, compared to the previous year. (A)
Abstract