Two e-scooter riders pass through crosswalk in Seoul. (Newsis)
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Sunday announced a set of new guidelines to enhance the safety of personality mobility, or PM, vehicles such as electric scooters.
As part of the ministry’s revision bill, the new guidelines will be applied for building new roads for better safety of both pedestrians and vehicles, especially dedicated lanes for PM vehicles.
The revision mandates that when road management bodies conceptualize or revamp PM-only lanes, they should weigh both traffic density and user safety. It caps the maximum speed for the lane at 25 kilometers per hour, aligning with mechanical speed restrictions built into the electric scooters currently in use.
In terms of lane design, the lanes should feature elements like traffic posts preventing car access, adequate lighting for night safety, pavement markings for visual guidance and handrails.
To enhance driver visibility and minimize abrupt stops, curved lanes should also be gentle enough for PM riders to maintain a steady speed, helping them to anticipate lane bends and reduce potential blind spots.
The latest revision comes as safety concerns grow amid a surge in PM riders. Urban areas in Korea have seen a fivefold rise in the number of e-scooters operated by 13 PM providers from 2019 to 2021, according to the Korea Startup Forum's Shared Personal Mobility Alliance.
Along the rise, PM-related accidents grew more than tenfold from 2017 to 2021, with 45 fatalities over the five-year period. In 2022, preliminary figures found a total of 26 fatalities.
Personal mobility devices, as defined by local governance, are vehicles that rely solely on electric power. Electric scooters account for most PM vehicles, while electric bikes provided by shared mobility companies such as those from Elecle are not classified as PM vehicles since their motors require rider pedaling to function.
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