Last Year, Personal Mobility Device Accidents Including Electric Scooters in Seoul Surge by 200% in One Year...

One in Two Personal Mobility Vehicle Accidents in Seoul Involve Unsafe Driving
Among 600 Accidents Over 4 Years, Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa Districts Have the Highest Numbers

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Last year, the number of personal mobility device accidents caused by riders, such as electric kickboards and electric bicycles, in Seoul surged from 134 cases to 387 cases within a year.

On the 12th, the Seoul Institute announced through Seoul Infographics on the topic of ‘Seoul Personal Mobility Device Rider Accidents’ that in 2020, there were 387 personal mobility device rider accidents in Seoul, and the number of deaths, serious injuries, minor injuries, and casualties totaled 421, representing approximately a 200% increase in both accident cases and casualties compared to the previous year.

The increase rate of personal mobility device rider accidents in 2020 compared to 2019 was 188.8% in Seoul, which was more than three times higher than the 62.9% nationwide excluding Seoul. The increase in casualties also showed a significant difference between Seoul (200.7%) and the rest of the country (68.3%). Personal mobility devices refer to electric-powered devices such as electric kickboards, electric wheels, electric bicycles, and ultra-small electric vehicles.

Furthermore, from 2017 to 2020, the types of personal mobility device rider accidents in Seoul were 50.7% vehicle-to-vehicle, accounting for more than half, 42.5% vehicle-to-person, and 6.8% single-vehicle accidents. During the same period, the most common legal violations causing accidents were ‘failure to drive safely’ (such as using a mobile phone, smoking, inattentive forward watching, and poor driving skills), accounting for 57.5%, followed by ‘signal violations’ at 8.3%, and ‘crossing the center line’ at 4.8% (excluding others).

Looking at 600 personal mobility device rider accidents that occurred in Seoul over the past four years by district, Gangnam-gu recorded the highest number with 134 cases, followed by Seocho-gu with 51 cases and Songpa-gu with 42 cases, making the ‘Gangnam 3 districts’ the top three districts for personal mobility device rider accidents.

Meanwhile, analyzing the number of personal mobility device rider accidents by time of day shows that most accidents occurred during commuting hours. However, after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the number of accidents occurring during late-night hours increased sharply compared to 2017?2019 and other time periods.

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