Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member Kim Gilyong Urges Establishment of Safety Measures for Electric Kickboards

Kim Gil-yong, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] Kim Gil-yong, a member of the Jeonnam Provincial Assembly (Gwangyang 3, Democratic Party), on the 19th urged the establishment of measures in response to the increasing problems of traffic accidents and illegal parking caused by the rise in electric scooter users.

According to data submitted by Kim Gil-yong from the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, over the three years since 2017, the number of traffic accidents and injuries involving electric scooters increased by approximately 90% annually on average, and the number of fatalities tripled in just two years.

The most common type of accident was vehicle-to-vehicle collisions (79.5%), followed by vehicle-to-pedestrian accidents (14.0%). Additionally, single-vehicle accidents where only the driver was injured accounted for 6.5%.

Currently, in Jeonnam Province, 8 companies operate 2,537 electric scooters across 7 cities and counties, with 24 traffic accidents and 30 injuries reported this year.

Assemblyman Kim stated, “As the distribution and user base of personal mobility devices, including electric scooters, have expanded, related traffic accidents have increased, raising risks for both pedestrians and drivers. Although the Road Traffic Act, which came into effect on May 13 and specifies ‘motorcycle driver’s license or higher’ as a qualification for use, has been implemented, it has been confirmed that some companies allow usage without license verification, making urgent countermeasures necessary.”

He continued, “There are currently 18 shared electric scooter companies operating domestically, but only 5 require driver’s license verification for use. Some companies require users to upload a photo of their driver’s license taken with a smartphone camera, while others have users manually enter their name, date of birth, and license number, revealing a lax system in reality.”

He added, “Since the 15th, Seoul City has become the first in the nation to tow illegally parked shared scooters that obstruct pedestrian walkways such as crosswalk entrances. In Jeonnam Province, although an ordinance related to personal mobility devices was enacted on December 24 last year, no implementation plan has been established yet. The Road Traffic Division and the Citizen Safety Office must work together to devise countermeasures.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.