Incheon City to Implement 'Parking Penalty Zones' for Personal Mobility Devices... Plans to Propose Lower Speed Limits

Incheon City is planning to operate a 'Parking Penalty Zone' for the safety management of personal mobility devices (PM) such as electric scooters, and to propose institutional improvements to the government, including lowering speed limits.

The city announced on the 25th that it recently held a meeting with LG Electronics and five shared personal mobility device companies to discuss these safety management improvement measures. While personal mobility devices are increasingly used as a means of short-distance transportation, the lack of clear regulations has led to an increase in safety accidents caused by unauthorized parking and non-compliance with traffic laws.

Accordingly, the city and related companies held a meeting and agreed to recruit electric scooter supporters from volunteer groups and students to relocate devices left on sidewalks, thereby creating a pleasant walking environment. In particular, they decided to operate a 'Parking Penalty Zone' where returning devices is not allowed in no-parking areas to prevent unauthorized parking of devices.

Additionally, Incheon City and LG Electronics are reviewing a pilot project for an 'Eco-friendly Smart Personal Mobility Device Station.' They plan to establish 100 wireless charging docking zones in the region and provide reward points to citizens who park their devices there, encouraging the spread of proper parking culture.

Electric Kickboard [Photo by Asia Economy]

There was also discussion on effective institutional improvements such as helmet-wearing regulations. Although the current Road Traffic Act imposes fines for not wearing helmets, the helmet-wearing rate remains very low. In fact, shared personal mobility device companies in Incheon placed helmets, but over 90% were damaged or lost within a month, leading to their recall.

The city judged that imposing fines is not a practical safety management measure and decided to analyze accident rates by speed with shared personal mobility device companies and propose institutional improvements such as lowering speed limits to the government.

An Incheon City official stated, "After holding one more meeting, we will review the discussed contents in detail and prepare a comprehensive plan for improving the safety management of personal mobility devices."

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