Kickboard Dangerous Drive… I'm drunk and I don't wear a helmet.

Seongsusa Street in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, at 11:30 p.m. on April 30. A man riding an electric kickboard was caught in a police crackdown and bowed his head saying this. As a result of the measurement, the blood alcohol concentration of men was 0.076%. The police suspended the driver's license on the spot. Driving personal mobility (PM) such as electric kickboards and electric wheels requires a driver's license or higher, and if caught driving while drunk, the license will be suspended or revoked depending on the blood alcohol concentration.

○ Police will crack down until the end of July

As it was pointed out that the number of people who use PMs to return home from drinking due to the recent late-night "taxi crisis" has increased, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has launched a special crackdown on traffic violations of PMs, bicycles and motorcycles. The police plan to strictly crack down on exceeding the number of passengers, drunk driving, signal violations, reverse driving, and violation of pedestrian protection obligations by July 31.

On the first day of the crackdown, a Dong-A Ilbo reporter accompanied him to the scene and found six PMs who violated laws such as drunk driving (2 cars), violation of the number of passengers (2 cars), and unlicensed driving (1 car) at two streets in Gwangjin-gu for two hours. If one unit includes duplicates that violated several cases, the total number of violations reached about 10.

None of the drivers caught were wearing safety helmets. The revision of the Road Traffic Act has made it mandatory to wear safety helmets since May 13 last year, but they are still not being observed at the site. A man who was caught was embarrassed, saying, "I knew (that I was required to wear a helmet), but I came out in front of my house for a while (I thought it would be okay)."

A man and a woman who rode an electric kickboard without a helmet and passed the quota (one person) together had no license. Violation of three laws and regulations at once. Unlicensed driving will be fined 100,000 won and banned from obtaining a driver's license for one year. Failure to wear a safety helmet will result in a fine of 20,000 won and a fine of 40,000 won for exceeding the quota.

○ PM accident surge, risk of serious injury in case of accident is high

Although PM has little difference from cars in various penalty provisions, many people violated the law amid the misunderstanding that it is "similar to bicycles." As a result of watching the intersection in front of Exit 5 of Konkuk University Station on Subway Line 2 from 10:30 p.m., 13 people were seen crossing the crosswalk while boarding the PM.

According to the National Police Agency, PM accidents have been on the rise recently. It increased 93.4% from 897 in 2020 to 1,735 last year. Since the revision of the Road Traffic Act in May last year, the total number of violations of PM traffic laws by the end of the year was 73,565 cases, of which 58,579 cases (79.6%) were not wearing safety helmets. It was followed by 7,168 cases (9.7%) of unlicensed driving and 2,589 cases (3.5%) of drunk driving.

Experts point out that PMs are much more at risk of serious injury in the event of an accident than bicycles. Park Moo-hyuk, a senior researcher at the Korea Expressway Transportation Corporation, advised, "According to related statistics, when using PM without protective gear, the probability of serious injury increases by more than 10 times, and the mortality rate doubles."

An official from a PM sharing company said, "When we installed the helmet, the loss rate reached 90 percent," adding, "We are considering increasing the wearing rate." Another company official said, "We have launched a campaign to wear safety helmets, and we have released a foldable helmet that is easy to carry," adding, "We urgently need to change users' consciousness."

Date: 2022-06-01

Reporter: 신정훈