© Weeklymonday

The revised Road Traffic Act in Korea now means that a driver’s licence is compulsory for those operating personal mobility (PM) vehicles, including electric scooters from May 13th. Due to severe accidents by reckless PM vehicle users and the potential risk for pedestrians, the Road Traffic Act was revised.

PM vehicles, which refer to personal mobile devices with a maximum speed of 25km/h and weighing less than 30kg, have been regulated to legally require the users to be above 16 years and to obtain a Class II driver’s licence for motorcycles or a higher driver’s licence. Without such a licence, the driver will be fined 100,000 won for violating the Road Traffic Act.

Although PM vehicles are convenient means of transportation with high speed and short waiting times compared to other transportation vehicles, they have destroyed the traditional transportation ecosystem and threatened the safety of pedestrians. Some even call electric scooter users “kickrani,” a word that combines the two Korean words, kickboard (electric scooter) and gorani (water deer) since they pop out on the street unannounced like a water deer, causing accidents frequently.

According to the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, 897 traffic accidents including 10 deaths were caused by personalized mobile devices ever since they were widely used. Since the majority of the accidents involved teenagers and even drunken riders, significantly threatening pedestrians, many claimed that strict regulations were necessary in order to reduce the number of accidents caused by PM vehicles, especially to regulate teenagers’ reckless behavior. As a result, the revised enactment was imposed, along with other regulations that more than one person on board the vehicle or drunken driving is prohibited, and that users should wear protective helmets and drive vehicles equipped with headlights. The fines range from 10,000 to 130,000 won, with the highest penalty relating to drunken riders.

The revision of the previous rule through specific guidelines is expected to reduce the threat to pedestrians. Previously, there were no regulations in place or other possible ways to prevent the emerging accidents involving PM vehicle users but this move brings them in line with other vehicle rulings.