[Anchor]

When examining fatal traffic accidents that occurred on back roads without separation between sidewalks and roadways, about one in three victims was sitting or lying on the road. Drivers have little choice but to exercise extreme caution in alleyways.

Reporter Lee Tae-gwon has the details.

[Reporter]

Late at night, an object suddenly appears on the road ahead of a vehicle driving along a two-lane road.

It was a man in his 40s lying on the road.

He is what is known as a "stealth pedestrian," sitting or lying down on the road where drivers can hardly identify them.

According to an analysis of 105 fatal accidents on back roads without separated sidewalks and roadways by the Samsung Traffic Safety Research Institute, 30 percent of the accidents involved such "stealth pedestrians."

The accidents were concentrated on roads lacking sufficient pedestrian space, with roads between 3 meters and under 6 meters in width accounting for the highest number at 22 cases.

Forty-one percent of all back road fatalities occurred mainly during nighttime hours between 7:00 PM and 7:00 AM the next day. The nighttime proportion for stealth pedestrian accidents reached 62.5 percent, which is 1.5 times that of general pedestrian accidents.

By season, accidents occurred relatively more often in autumn and winter, which is analyzed to be due to periods with frequent outdoor pedestrian activities and a higher likelihood of alcohol consumption.

The research institute explained that to eliminate blind spots for pedestrians, it is necessary to physically separate pedestrian and vehicle traffic spaces by installing safety fences and other measures.

[Lee Sung-ryul / Senior Researcher, Samsung Traffic Safety Research Institute: Through pedestrian recognition CCTVs and the like, we need systems that automatically issue warnings or immediately notify 119 or 112 to take safety measures for stealth pedestrians.]

It also emphasized the need to improve visibility, such as smart streetlights and illuminated signs, since accidents are concentrated at night.

(Video by Joo Beom | Video Editing by Kim Jong-tae | Graphics by Kim Ye-ji)