Riding Shared Electric Scooters Without a Motorbike License
A couple in their 60s who were taking a walk in a park was hit by an electric scooter driven by a high school student, resulting in the wife’s death, which was reported belatedly.
According to Yonhap News on the 16th, at around 7:33 p.m. on the 8th of last month, Mr. A and his wife Mrs. B, both in their 60s, were hit from behind by an electric scooter at Ilsan Hosu Park in Goyang City. Mrs. B passed away 9 days after being taken to the hospital, and Mr. A is still undergoing treatment.
The police identified that two female high school students were riding the scooter, and while riding on the bicycle path inside the park, they swerved to avoid a bicycle and hit the couple walking on the right side of the road. It was reported that they were not wearing safety gear.
The police are investigating how Ms. A and others rented and operated the electric scooter.
Previously, accidents related to electric scooters have been occurring steadily, raising safety warnings. On the 11th at around 9:30 p.m., in Okcheon-gun, Chungbuk, two female students riding a single electric scooter collided with a vehicle, resulting in one death. In March, a university student riding an electric scooter without a helmet on a three-lane road in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, fell and suffered a severe head injury. The student was taken to a nearby hospital but died during treatment.
Since the revised Road Traffic Act was enforced in May 2021, a fine of 20,000 KRW is imposed for riding an electric scooter without wearing a helmet. However, research shows that 85% of electric scooter accident patients were not wearing helmets.
According to a paper published in an international journal in 2022 by the research team led by Professor Choi Junho of the Department of Plastic Surgery at Chonnam National University Hospital, among 108 patients who visited the emergency medical center of Chonnam National University Hospital due to electric scooter accidents from April 2018 to October 2021, 92 (85%) were not wearing helmets. Twenty-three (21.3%) were intoxicated at the time of the accident, and among them, 22 were also not wearing helmets.
Statistics compiled by the Road Traffic Authority also show that the number of personal mobility device accidents, including electric scooters, has steadily increased every year. The number of accidents was 117 in 2017, rising to 897 in 2020, 1,735 in 2021, and 2,386 in 2022, increasing about 20 times in six years. In the recent three years (2020?2022), 5,018 accidents occurred, resulting in 55 deaths and 5,570 injuries. In particular, accidents sharply increase in spring when outdoor activities rise due to warmer weather.
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