Public anger is growing after two middle school students driving an electric kick scooter without a license hit a woman in her 30s who was on the sidewalk. The crash happened on the 18th in Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. As the woman was coming out of a convenience store, an electric kick scooter with two middle school girls aboard charged toward her 2-year-old daughter, and she blocked it with her body. In the process, the woman fell and suffered a serious head injury but barely regained consciousness. Police said the middle school girls, who rode double without a motorized license, are is under investigation on suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Act.
With electric kick scooter crashes recurring, the personal mobility (PM) industry is facing fierce criticism. As most accidents stem from unlicensed minors, calls are growing for institutional fixes. But discussions to establish relevant systems have stalled as political circles and the industry have conflicting interests.
According to the industry on the 28th, under the current Road Traffic Act, to operate an electric kick scooter one must hold at least a Class 2 motor-driven bicycle license, which can be issued from age 16. However, most sharing companies only display guidance notices in their apps and lend electric kick scooters without separate license verification. This is because there are no provisions imposing obligations on companies to check licenses or penalties for missing verification. Even apps with a license verification step are designed to allow lending once license information is entered, leading to frequent cases in which teenagers register by borrowing a parent's or acquaintance's license information and use the service without permission.
According to the Korea Road Traffic Authority (KOROAD), there were 7,007 PM traffic accidents over the past three years (2022 to 2024), and 3,442 of them involved unlicensed driving, accounting for about half. The number of PM traffic accidents caused by unlicensed driving rose each year, with 1,127 in 2022, 1,148 in 2023, and 1,167 in 2024. In particular, among unlicensed drivers who caused accidents, those aged 15 or younger were the largest group at 1,388, followed by 1,318 aged 16 to 19 and 380 in their 20s. Given the nature of electric kick scooters, unlicensed minors can easily use them, and accidents caused by this continue to occur.
The Korean National Police Agency has steadily reviewed introducing a dedicated license to address these problems. According to the industry, police have discussed establishing a PM-specific license system since 2021 and gathered public opinion through related hearings and surveys. However, the PM industry and police have presented different solutions regarding how to obtain the license, including whether to introduce online testing and whether to add a practical skills test. With their positions running parallel, related consultations have been suspended.
Another limitation is that each local government has set its own regulations. Last year, Incheon lowered the top speed of shared kick scooters from the existing 25 kph to 20 kph. It also made verification mandatory for those 16 and under to prevent unlicensed minors from riding and identity theft. Other local governments are enforcing measures such as forcible towing for illegal parking. Busan enacted a local government ordinance to allow the forcible collection or towing of electric kick scooters left unattended at intersections, crosswalks, and school zones starting in May last year. However, due to the lack of unified regulations and oversight at the central government level, user confusion and related accidents continue to occur.
Experts stress that the central government must establish proper PM-related systems. They say that under the current incomplete system and regulation-heavy legal framework, desk-bound solutions are being proposed without understanding the characteristics of PM.
Kim Pil-su, head of the PM Industry Association (professor, Department of Future Automotive, Daelim University), said, "Current PM-related laws do not consider reality, and the problem starts with using the Class 2 motor-driven bicycle license as the basis for driving an electric kick scooter," and added, "The top speed should be lowered, and with a ban on riding on sidewalks, responsibility must be made clear." Kim went on to say, "What matters most is creating a proper legal system at the central government level," and "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the Korean National Police Agency, and the National Assembly should work together to address the root cause."