Gyeonggi Province: Only 38.5% of No-Parking Zones Designated Despite Fire Department Requests

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] A survey has revealed that only 38.5% of no-parking zones requested by fire departments have been designated.

Gyeonggi Province identifies inadequate management by relevant police stations and municipalities concerned about civil complaints as the main cause, and plans to coordinate with related agencies so that all zones can be designated by the end of next year.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 27th, a special audit on ‘parking management status around multi-use buildings’ near roads in shopping districts across 27 cities and counties was conducted from the 16th to the 27th of last month by the province and 22 citizen inspectors. The results showed that only 2,453 of 6,366 locations where fire departments requested no-parking zone designation (38.5%) were actually designated.

Additionally, 1,557 designated areas (63.5%) lacked road markings, and among 896 areas with completed markings, 397 sites (44%) had poor paint conditions. No-parking signs were installed in only 594 of 2,453 designated areas (24.2%).

Regarding no-parking zones requested by fire departments, 9 cities and counties including Icheon (475 sites) and Anseong (425 sites) designated all requested areas, while 10 cities and counties including Bucheon (565 sites) and Osan (753 sites) failed to designate any, showing significant variance among municipalities depending on judgments of supervising police stations.

Gyeonggi Province attributes this situation to fire departments conducting inadequate full-scale surveys by designating areas where designation is unnecessary, relevant police stations passively designating zones due to concerns about civil complaints, and municipalities showing poor management through lack of road markings and traffic safety facilities.

Accordingly, the province plans to coordinate with related agencies to complete all work by next year for 3,913 undesignated no-parking zones and 1,557 areas lacking road markings.

The province also plans to recommend the establishment of detailed standards for no-parking zone designation to the National Fire Agency and secure necessary budget through 2021 to complete road markings and installation of parking signs.

This audit was conducted at the request of the head of Gyeonggi Province Fire Department and followed the 2018 August revision of the Road Traffic Act, which enabled designation of areas around shopping districts as ‘no-parking zones.’ It was the first such audit conducted nationally to verify implementation status after the law took effect.

The revised Road Traffic Act provides that when fire department heads (municipal fire departments) request designation, local police agencies (relevant police stations) designate no-parking zones, which are then managed by each municipality.

The investigation focused on examination according to Article 33 of the Road Traffic Act regarding no-parking designation ordinances for multi-use businesses under the jurisdiction of police stations in all 27 cities and counties, covering ▲no-parking zone designation ▲whether no-parking zone designation is effective and prioritizes high fire-risk targets ▲road marking paint condition ▲no-parking sign installation status ▲public awareness activities.

Kim Jong-gu, head of audit coordination at Gyeonggi Province, stated, “This audit is conducted to verify whether Article 33 of the Road Traffic Act, revised following the 2017 Jecheon Sports Center fire in North Chungcheong Province that caused numerous casualties due to illegal parking preventing fire truck access, is being properly implemented,” adding, “Going forward, citizen inspectors and I will continue to conduct audits in areas closely related to residents’ daily lives where improvements can be directly felt.”