Substitute Driver Found Collapsed on Road, Involved in Accident
Driver Says "Couldn't See Due to Darkness"... Not Drunk or Unlicensed
A man in his 60s working as a designated driver died after being hit by a moving passenger car while falling off an electric scooter.
On the 8th, Yonhap News quoted the announcement from the Gwangsan Police Station in Gwangju, reporting that around 11:35 p.m. the previous day, a man in his 60s, Mr. A, who was lying on the Seungyonggyo road connecting Gwangsan-gu and Nam-gu in Gwangju, was hit by an Avante passenger car and died. Mr. A was severely injured all over his body and was transported to a hospital but passed away. Mr. A, a designated driver, was preliminarily investigated to have fallen while riding an electric scooter crossing Seungyonggyo at the time of the accident.
The Avante driver, Mr. B, in his 40s, held a valid driver's license and was not under the influence of alcohol. Mr. B told the police, "It was dark around, so I did not notice Mr. A." The police have booked Mr. B on charges of causing death by negligence under the Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling and are investigating the exact circumstances of the accident.
Meanwhile, the number of personal mobility (PM) accidents, mostly involving electric scooters, has increased more than fivefold in four years. Last month, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority announced that the number of PM accidents rose from 447 cases in 2019 to 2,389 cases last year, a 5.3-fold increase. The number of deaths from PM accidents also increased from 8 in 2019 to 24 in 2023. During the same period, the total number of casualties, including deaths and injuries, rose from 481 to 2,646, a 5.5-fold increase.
As accidents have surged significantly, the government and private companies have launched a pilot project to reduce the maximum speed of electric scooters by about 5 km/h from the current limit and are considering future legal amendments to strengthen safety measures.
On the 8th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety signed a 'Business Agreement to Strengthen Personal Mobility Safety Management' with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the National Police Agency, the Road Traffic Authority, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, 10 personal mobility rental companies, and the Central Council for Safety Culture Promotion. Through this agreement, the public and private sectors aim to work together to create a safe usage environment for electric scooters and promote a proper usage culture.
First, to prevent personal mobility accidents, a pilot operation project will be conducted to limit the maximum speed of personal mobility devices to 20 km/h, which is 5 km/h lower than the current legal maximum speed of 25 km/h. The pilot operation will be carried out from this month until the end of the year in major cities nationwide, including Seoul and Busan. The government plans to verify the effect of lowering the maximum speed through the pilot operation and, if the effect is confirmed, consider revising related laws.
Along with this, from this month until September, there will be a focused crackdown on violations of personal mobility safety rules. Centered on the National Police Agency, major safety violations such as not wearing helmets, unlicensed driving, driving on prohibited roads, and carrying more than one passenger will be subject to a two-week guidance and publicity period starting from the 15th, followed by intensive enforcement for two months from August to September.
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