SKT hops aboard global road safety campaign

SK Telecom is bringing a global campaign for road safety to Korea in conjunction with the Korea Automobile Racing Association (KARA), the mobile carrier said Monday.

The “Action for Road Safety” campaign launched by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in support of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety represents global efforts to reduce 5 million casualties in traffic accidents from 2011 to 2020.

The movement is new to Korea. With KARA’s support, SK Telecom will publicize the campaign nationwide through its popular navigation app T Map, which is used by 10 million local drivers.

The safety message will be delivered in the form of game in which drivers can win prizes for demonstrating good driving habits.

KARA will hold a “200 kilometer safe driving” event from Aug. 28 through Sept. 27 and give gifts to the top 200 drivers who show the safest driving habits. Drivers’ braking and adherence to traffic regulations will be measured through the T Map app.

“As drivers participate in a game-type event, we expect there will be substantial improvements in drivers’ behavior,” SK Telecom said in a release Monday.

Korea ranks fifth in the world in terms of the number of casualties from traffic accidents per 100,000 people, according to research by the International Transport Forum, which is under the OECD. Some 12 people die in traffic accidents per 100,000 in Korea.

“As for Seoul, traffic accidents account for a majority of accidents involving people, which is why Seoul can benefit from such a road safety campaign,” the mobile carrier added in statement.

A total of 13 companies and government institutions are participating in the safety campaign including the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, Hyundai Motor, BMW Group Korea and CJ Logistics.

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]