Goyang steps up e-scooter regulations amid growing safety concerns

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The city government of Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, said Thursday it is imposing a series of safety measures related to electric kick scooters in light of a recent accident that left one dead and another injured.

According to the city, it will cooperate with the local police to clamp down on actions such as riding e-scooters without proper license, without safety helmets or with a passenger on the vehicle that is intended for one person. The new city regulations will also ban riding e-scooters inside densely populated areas like apartment complexes or public parks.

E-scooter rental businesses will be mandated to check to see if the renter has a proper license to operate them. South Korea's Traffic Control Act states that only those with a Level II license for operating a motorized bike -- available to those aged 16 and up and covering mopeds, e-scooters and motorcycles of up to 125cc engines -- can legally operate an e-scooter.

Several e-scooter renters in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province do not mandate users to input information about their license upon registration, and those that do rarely verify if the user has a valid license.

Goyang's latest move comes after a fatal accident last week when a couple in their 60s walking in a park were struck by two high school girls riding a single scooter. The woman died after suffering a brain hemorrhage from the accident, and her husband is recovering from his injuries.

The two girls did not have proper vehicle licenses and were not wearing helmets. They are currently being investigated by police on charges of death and injury by occupational negligence.

E-scooters have rapidly gained popularity in the past few years as a convenient method of transportation, but the related regulations and laws are still in their infancy. They are legally categorized as motorized bicycles which cannot be operated on sidewalks or bike paths, but riders are seen frequently using both the roads and the sidewalks.

South Korea has been revising the related law, categorizing the e-scooters under "personal mobility" in 2020. This includes e-scooters and electric-powered bicycles or skateboards, vehicles weighing under 30 kilograms with a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour.

Despite the legal efforts, there have been several accidents regarding e-scooters. According to National Police Agency data, there were 20,068 cases in 2023 where a teen was caught riding an e-scooter without a license, 1,021 of which led to an accident.

The total number of accidents caused by e-scooters marked 2,389 last year, with 24 deaths. This marked a substantial jump from 447 accidents and eight deaths in 2019.

With growing concern over the safety of the e-scooters, some regional governments have been moving to impose their own guidelines. Sejong in March implemented a new speed limit for the e-scooters, from 25 kilometers per hour to 20.

But there is no legal requirement yet for e-scooter rental companies to check the license of their users, and the aforementioned new policy by Goyang would be a city regulation. As such, officials of Goyang and other city governments have been calling for passing national bills that would mandate safety measures.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)