South Korea recently began to implement the newly revised road traffic law to strengthen the management of electric scooters.
The new regulations stipulate that electric scooters can only drive on the right side of the lane and bicycle lanes. The regulations also increase the penalty standards for a series of violations. For example, to drive an electric scooter on the road, you must have a second-class motorized bicycle driver’s license or above. The minimum age for applying for this driver’s license is 16 years old. ) fine. In addition, drivers must wear safety helmets, otherwise they will be fined 20,000 won; two or more people riding at the same time will be fined 40,000 won; the penalty for drunk driving will increase from the previous 30,000 won to 100,000 won; Children are prohibited from driving electric scooters, otherwise their guardians will be fined 100,000 won.
In the past two years, electric scooters have become increasingly popular in South Korea. Data show that the number of shared electric scooters in Seoul has soared from more than 150 in 2018 to more than 50,000 currently. While electric scooters bring convenience to people’s lives, they also cause some traffic accidents. In South Korea, the number of traffic accidents caused by electric scooters in 2020 has more than tripled year-on-year, of which 64.2% are due to unskilled driving or speeding.
Using e-scooters on campus comes with risks, too. The South Korean Ministry of Education issued the “Regulations on the Safety Management of University Personal Vehicles” in December last year, which clarified the behavioral norms for the use, parking and charging of electric scooters and other vehicles on university campuses: drivers must wear protective equipment such as helmets; more than 25 kilometers; each university should designate a dedicated area for parking personal vehicles around the teaching building to avoid random parking; universities should pilot the designation of dedicated lanes for personal vehicles, separate from sidewalks; to prevent users from parking in the classroom In order to prevent fire accidents caused by internal charging of equipment, schools are required to set up public charging stations, and schools can charge charging fees according to regulations; schools need to register personal vehicles owned by school members and carry out relevant education.