Electric Scooter 'Tandem Jok' Posing Safety Threat

Difficult to Maintain Balance with Two Riders
No Penalty under Road Traffic Act
Electric Kickboard Accidents Triple in One Year

[Asia Economy Reporters Seungyoon Song and Jeongyun Lee] Electric kickboards, which have recently surged alongside delivery motorcycles, have emerged as a major threat to road safety. As kickboard travel has become popular among young people, so-called "tandem riders," couples riding together, have appeared. Tandem refers to a two-person bicycle.

On the afternoon of the 6th, near Gangnam Station in Seoul, on a road bustling with hundreds of people, a kickboard carrying two riders appeared amidst the crowd. The passenger barely stood on the narrow board, holding onto the driver's waist. The two-person kickboard narrowly avoided surrounding obstacles and pedestrians, beginning a dizzying stunt-like ride. Because two people were riding, the driver turned the handlebars back and forth to balance the weight, making the dangerous situation obvious at a glance. When asked why two people rode on a single-person kickboard, the answer was "Because it's fun." Observing the area around Gangnam Station for two hours that day, one out of every seven kickboards was ridden tandem-style.

On the same day, a similar scene unfolded near Sinchon in Mapo-gu. The two-person kickboard sped past people and cars, regardless of sidewalks or roads. There were frequent close calls where the rider lost balance or failed to slow down properly, almost colliding with pedestrians.

For an adult male, placing feet side by side on the board leaves almost no room for an additional rider. To fit two people on the narrow kickboard, their bodies must be pressed closely together. This is why tandem riders are mostly couples. Although two people can forcibly ride together, the weight balance is poor, causing the rider to frequently put their feet down during operation.

Riding tandem on a kickboard is as dangerous as drunk driving, yet there are few restrictions. The revised Road Traffic Act, set to be enforced this December, stipulates that personal mobility devices, including kickboards, cannot exceed their passenger capacity. However, there are no separate penalty or fine provisions. According to the Samsung Traffic Safety Culture Research Institute, the number of electric kickboard traffic accidents increased more than threefold from 259 cases in 2018 to 890 cases last year.

Experts emphasize the need for strong regulations on tandem riding. Lee Jun, Associate Research Fellow at the Traffic Safety and Disaster Prevention Research Center of the Korea Transport Institute, explained, "When two people ride on an electric kickboard designed for one, braking and deceleration capabilities inevitably decrease, increasing the risk of accidents," adding, "Strong measures are needed to enforce safety rules, including establishing penalty provisions."