The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has come up with a plan to install 50 rest stops along national roadways across the nation in the next five years.

The government plans to install 50 rest stops outfitted with toilets, parking lots and advanced anti-theft facilities along national roadways across the nation in the next five years.

The Seoul metropolitan area, Gangwon sphere, Chungcheong area, Honam provinces and Yeongnam area will have 13, 7, 12, and 11 new rest stops, respectively.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) established a master plan on rest stops designed to prevent drowsy driving over the next five years.

Under the plan, rest spots will be required to be outfitted with a minimum level of lighting, CCTVs, and anti-theft facilities, as well as overspeed road floor patches and other safety facilities.

Toilets, EV charging stations, coffee vendors and other convenience facilities will be built according to given site conditions. The step is designed to help motorists utilize rest stops designed to prevent drowsy driving at a safer and more convenient fashion.

New rest stops will be established for preventing drowsy driving along national roads. (Photos: MOLIT)

Under the plan, ordinary national roads are expected to provide a pleasant rest space to motorists the same way expressways do.

The ministry is making all-out efforts to achieve a goal of halving the number of deaths in traffic accidents by 2022. To this end, the ministry established the master plan on rest stops.

Figures released by the MOLIT show that about 5,700 traffic accidents related to drowsy driving were reported during the three-year period between 2016 and 2018, causing about 230 deaths.

Currently, there are 220 service areas and 237 rest stops for preventing drowsy driving on expressways while national roads across the nation have 48 rest stops for preventing drowsy driving and some service areas built by the private sector.

The selection of candidate sites of the new rest stops for preventing drowsy driving has been done based on big data analyses such as navigation guidance and a track record of traffic accidents. Ninety-one candidate sites have been selected, and the figure has finally been narrowed to a finalized 50 sites based pm evaluations such as traffic volumes and traffic accident concentration degrees.

Ten new rest stops for preventing drowsy driving will be installed every year starting 2020 and the project will cost a combined 80 billion for the next five years, the ministry said.

Dir.-Gen. Kim Yong-seok of the Road Bureau at the MOLIT said, “We expect rest stops for preventing drowsy driving to be renovated with ones that will greatly contribute to providing a safe and pleasant driving to motorists.”

The ministry plans to make sure toilets and surrounding environment at rest stops for preventing drowsy driving being kept clean, he added.