On campus, there are several traffic signs notifying cars to drive under 20km per hour. However, we can see at a glance that cars are moving over the speed limit.
  There have been no serious accidents yet, but unnoticeable accidents happen around our school. Dangerous scenes caused by traffic are making discomfort and anxiety for the people walking in Chungbuk National University(CBNU).
  Yoon Yeo-jeong(Dept. of English Language and Literature) said, “The road connecting the front of the Central Library and Student’s Union 1 is the section where drivers increase their speed. There, drivers seem unwilling to stop even when students are using the crosswalk to cross the road. They do not consider pedestrians, and it looks very dangerous.” What could be the causes that create that situation?
  Kim Yeon-soo, the manager of Traffic Management Department gave three reasons as the causes. The first reason is the condition of university location. “CBNU is near the downtown area where many cars pass. Therefore, it is very hard to control the traffic since the number of people coming into our school is more than just students and staffs of university. Many commuters go to their actual destinations by driving through the university. Also, almost all of the visitors of CBNU Hospital use the university roads to enter because the hospital is too close to the university.” The second reason is because students are mostly not using crosswalks. Actually, it is easily seen where students directly cross the road anywhere. About the problem, he explained, “Students tend to cross the roads everywhere, and drivers cannot stop every time they do.” The third reason is due to the road structure. The roads of CBNU are usually straight, which makes it difficult to keep 20 km per hour.
  The current traffic management rules are mainly about parking lots and their users. According to article 13, the parking lot user observations, the following are banned to do in the university parking lot: car wash, car repair, fueling, using firearms, drinking, gambling, loud singing and commercial activities. Also, drivers should observe 20km per hour and they should not use horns or pass other cars. The ‘parking lot users’ in this rule implies everyone who enters into CBNU with cars, and the ‘parking lots’ include all sections of the university accessible by cars.
  In the Road Traffic Law, the roads in universities are not treated as ‘roads’, so the rules and the punishments do not apply. The ‘roads’ describes open roads for an unspecified number of the general public, and it means that university roads which are under control of school manager do not correspond to the ‘roads’defined by the Road Traffic Law. Therefore, punishments do not apply inside the campus, but DUI(Driving Under the Influence of alcohol), speeding, and hit-and-runs are punished on ‘roads’. In the case of a car accident, it is treated according to the Act on Special Cases concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents.
  Safety can only increase when all schools, drivers, and pedestrians cooperate to control and consider each other. Conscious interest and institutional efforts need to contribute to the safety and established order of CBNU.

By Park Se-ha

sh33@cbnu.ac.kr