According to a new report, traffic accidents involving children mostly occur between 2 to 6 p.m. The Samsung Traffic Safety Research Institute삼성교통안전문화연구소 looked into 94,240 traffic accidents that occured to children under the age of 14 from 2006 to 2010. It found that 37.8 percent of the children got into traffic accidents on their way home from school. Among the 10,000 elementary school students who got into car accidents during this period, most of them were first graders.
Sadly, a large number of accidents occured in school zones and the number increased sharply over the years. In 2006, 347 children were involved in car accidents in school zones; in 2007, 375; in 2008, 564; in 2009, 567; and 769 last year. The Korean government is increasing school zone areas, but the traffic accident rate in these safety zones is also increasing.
Traffic accidents involving children happen more frequently in Korea compared to other OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)경제 협력 개발 기구 countries. Iceland has the lowest car accident rate and Korea is 18th among the 25 countries. Greece has the highest traffic accident rate involving children.
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