Drunk Driving and Two Riders... The 'Time Bomb on the Road' Electric Kickboard Out of Control

Last Year, 3,838 PM License Cancellations
83 Times Increase Compared to 2019
Caused by Complacent Attitudes and Enforcement Difficulties

#On June 8th, an accident occurred at Ilsan Lake Park in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, where a couple in their 60s, who were taking a walk, were hit from behind by an electric kickboard and died. They were immediately taken to the hospital, but the wife died nine days after the accident, and the husband was seriously injured. According to the police investigation, two high school students were riding the kickboard without a license and without wearing safety gear such as helmets.

#On June 11th, in Okcheon, Chungbuk, an electric kickboard carrying two middle school girls collided with a passenger car, resulting in one death. They were also found to be unlicensed and not wearing helmets or other safety equipment.

On the 30th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency began a two-month special crackdown on traffic violations targeting personal mobility devices such as motorcycles, bicycles, and electric kickboards. A citizen is seen riding without wearing a helmet on a road near Gongdeok Station in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Riding with two passengers and even 'drunk driving,' electric kickboards that violate regulations are threatening pedestrians. Experts point out that electric kickboards are directly exposed to external impacts and have a higher fatality rate compared to regular vehicles, but enforcement and detection are difficult, so they are left unchecked.

According to the National Police Agency on the 9th, last year there were 3,838 cases of personal mobility device (PM) license cancellations due to drunk driving, an 83.4-fold increase compared to 46 cases in 2019, five years ago. PM drunk driving license cancellations have been increasing annually from 46 cases in 2019 to 115 in 2020, 1,503 in 2021, and 4,542 in 2023. Last year, PM drunk driving license suspensions were 2,207 cases, a 315-fold increase compared to 7 cases in 2019.

The problem is that electric kickboards lack a body to protect the driver, leaving them fully exposed to external impacts. Accordingly, the fatality rate, which means the number of deaths per 100 traffic accidents, is also very high compared to overall traffic accidents. According to the Korea Road Traffic Authority's traffic accident analysis system, last year there were 2,389 PM traffic accidents, resulting in 24 deaths and 2,622 injuries, with a fatality rate of 5.6%, which is 4.3 times higher than the overall traffic accident fatality rate of 1.3%.

Fatal accidents caused by electric kickboards continue to occur, but there is no effective enforcement method, so they are left unattended. While regular vehicles are monitored on roads to detect violations of the Road Traffic Act, electric kickboards mainly travel on sidewalks, making it difficult to detect violations such as drunk driving. Moreover, even though electric kickboards are classified as 'vehicles' under the Road Traffic Act, most users casually regard them as a simple means of transportation like bicycles, which increases the risk of accidents.

A National Police Agency official stated, "Drunk driving on electric kickboards is often detected not by direct enforcement but when officers notice signs such as the smell of alcohol or slurred speech while assisting riders who have fallen during travel. Because the travel distances are short and riders mainly use sidewalks, it is difficult to enforce violations compared to regular vehicles."

Experts point out that government-level management and enforcement must be accompanied by changes in user awareness. Professor Kim Euisu of the Department of Safety Engineering at Korea National University of Transportation said, "Electric kickboards are ridden standing up without sitting and lack a body to protect the user, so the impact in accidents is greater compared to regular vehicles. Nevertheless, most people think they can simply ride them like bicycles. The government should promote safety accident prevention so that many users recognize that electric kickboards are classified as vehicles under the Road Traffic Act, and at the same time, strengthen enforcement and management of illegal acts."