New legislation has been proposed to prevent drunk and unlicensed driving of electric scooters and kickboards following BTS member Suga‘s drunk driving incidents.
It was reported on August 22nd that Lim Ho Seon, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, recently introduced a bill to amend the Road Traffic Act to impose the same penalties on drunk driving of personal mobility devices (PM) as on drunk driving of automobiles.
The amendment also includes a proposal to lower the maximum speed of PMs from the current 25 km/h to 20 km/h to ensure safer operation.
Currently, those caught driving PMs under the influence face a fine of up to 200,000 KRW ($149.20) or detention. The penalties for drunk driving of automobiles range from a minimum of one year imprisonment or a fine of up to 5 million KRW ($3,730) to a maximum of two to five years imprisonment or a fine of between 10 million ($7,460) and 20 million KRW ($14,912), depending on blood alcohol level.
Lim stated, “Given the increasing social harm caused by drunk driving of PMs and the fact that the severity of penalties for automobile drunk driving increases with the frequency of offenses and the blood alcohol level, the current penalties for PM drunk driving are too lenient considering the seriousness of the offense.” He emphasized the need for legislative changes.
Another Democratic Party lawmaker, Lee Byeong Jin, introduced a bill to amend the Road Traffic Act to require PM rental companies to verify the driver’s license of users when renting out PMs, with a fine of up to 5 million KRW ($3,730) for non-compliance.
Lee pointed out, “A person must have at least a motorized bicycle license to operate PMs under current law, but there are cases where children without licenses use them through shared platforms. This is because PM rental companies do not verify the driver’s license every time they use the device.” He criticized the current situation.
Lee also proposed an amendment to the Road Traffic Act to increase the penalties for unlicensed driving of motorized bicycles from a fine of “up to 300,000 KRW ($223) or detention” to a fine of “up to 1 million KRW ($745) or detention.”
Lee said, “The penalties for unlicensed driving of automobiles are up to one year imprisonment or a fine of up to 3 million KRW ($2,236), while the penalties for unlicensed driving of motorized bicycles are much lower. Given that the risks associated with unlicensed driving on the road are not significantly different, the penalties should be increased to raise awareness.”
According to statistics from the National Police Agency and the Korea Road Traffic Authority, there were 7,854 traffic accidents involving PMs as the offending vehicles over the past five years from 2019 to 2023, resulting in 87 deaths and 8,665 injuries. The number of accidents has been increasing each year.
In 2022, 8,238 cases of PM drunk driving were detected by police, and 7,037 in 2023. Over the past two years, there has been an average of 250 drunk-driving-related traffic accidents per year, resulting in a total of 4 deaths and 550 injuries.
In the past five years, there have been a total of 10,788 traffic accidents involving motorized bicycles, including 751 drunk-driving-related accidents, resulting in 226 deaths and 13,481 injuries.
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