어린이집 통학차 2만8천대에 '잠자는 아이 확인 장치' 설치한다
Last week a four-year-old girl died in a hot van.
The South Korean government is planning to do more to ensure the safety of children.
Before the year is up, tens and thousands of vehicles that carry kids, will be equipped with a system to ensure none of them are left behind.
Won Jung-hwan explains further.
The South Korean government plans enforce more strict public safety measures in the coming years.
In Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, President Moon Jae-in called for the thorough implementation of systems meant to prevent deadly accidents involving children.
His call follows the death last week of a 4-year-old girl who had been left by herself for seven hours inside the van that took her to daycare.
She had succumbed to the record-breaking summer heat.
"It is so frustrating to see such tragedies repeated when they could have been prevented with just a little more attention from adults. We must refine even the tiniest details, including why such measures do not work properly in practice, and make that sure such accidents do not happen again."
The driver of the van in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi-do Province... told police he had not gone to check the back of the vehicle,... something he said was not unusual.
The girl's daycare didn't even contact her parents to ask where she was until 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
To prevent such accidents in the future,… the government will require the installation of safety system on more than 28-thousand vehicles that carry children.
It's a device that activates warning lights when children get in the bus... and it stays on even once the bus's ignition is turned off.
The driver has to go to the back of the bus to turn it off within three minutes, which means he or she will find any children still on board.
In the past two years, there have been six cases nationwide where children were left in buses, including the one last week.
To make the country safer for children,... the government also plans to make daycare centers use sensors and IT systems to monitor children's whereabouts.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News.
