Road Traffic Authority 'Traffic Safety Research' Analysis
"Low Compliance Despite Awareness of PM Usage Rules"
It was found that 35% of drivers involved in personal mobility (PM) traffic accidents, such as electric kickboards and electric bicycles, were unlicensed.
On the 10th, the academic journal "Traffic Safety Research" published by the Korea Road Traffic Authority's Traffic Science Research Institute included a paper titled "Policy Directions for Securing Traffic Safety of Personal Mobility Devices" containing this information. The research team collected data on about 5,900 PM-related accidents nationwide over six years from 2017 to 2022 using the Authority's Traffic Accident Analysis System (TAAS), and analyzed 5,860 cases where the age group of the accident participants was confirmed.
As a result of the analysis, drivers involved in personal mobility device accidents were most frequently under 20 years old at 32.4%. This was followed by those in their 20s at 32.1%, 30s at 14.7%, 40s at 9.4%, 50s at 5.9%, 60s at 2.8%, and 70 years and older at 2.7%.
PM devices require at least a Class 2 motorized bicycle license (obtainable from age 16) or higher to operate, but 34.6% (2,027 cases) of accidents were caused by unlicensed drivers. Among unlicensed drivers involved in accidents, 67.6% were under 20 years old, and 18.6% were in their 20s. Regarding this, the research team suggested, "It is necessary to encourage those aged 20 and under to obtain a driver's license and actively manage drivers within the formal system."
The types of PM accidents were over half (50.5%) vehicle-to-vehicle collisions. This was followed by vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions (38.4%) and single-vehicle accidents (11.1%). The research team pointed out, "The high rate of vehicle-to-pedestrian accidents is due to many personal mobility device drivers violating traffic rules by riding on sidewalks."
The research team also conducted a survey on usage rules targeting 100 drivers aged 20 and over who had used PM devices in the past year. The results revealed a significant gap between awareness of usage rules and compliance. 63% of respondents knew about PM-permitted roads (such as bicycle paths), and awareness of the requirement to wear helmets and passenger capacity limits reached 97.0% and 92.0%, respectively.
Additionally, all respondents (100.0%) were aware of the prohibition of drunk driving, and more than half (54.0%) knew about the mandatory use of lighting devices such as headlights. However, far fewer respondents reported actually following these usage rules. Only 26.0% said they drove while adhering to PM-permitted roads and wearing helmets, while compliance rates for passenger capacity and drunk driving prohibition were 77.0% and 82.0%, respectively.
The research team emphasized, "Traffic safety education should be actively implemented focusing on teenage and twenties PM drivers," and added, "Law enforcement should be strengthened to actively manage violations by PM drivers, such as drunk driving and carrying passengers."
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