Seoul police to crack down on two-wheelers as accidents spike

Seoul police have initiated a two-month safety crackdown beginning Monday to curb the steep rise in two-wheeled vehicle accidents. Two-wheeled vehicles, comprising motorized personal mobility vehicles (PMVs) such as electric scooters as well as motorcycles, will face stricter and more frequent inspection across the city according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Between March and May 2023, traffic accidents involving two-wheeled vehicles surged by 30 percent, with corresponding injuries rising by 36 percent compared to the preceding three months. Notably, a 153 percent spike was observed in accidents involving bicycles and PMVs combined.

As driving factors behind these trends, officials suggested a mix of warmer weather, leading to more outdoor activities, and the increased use of PMVs due to limited late-night public transport.

The safety crackdown will zero in on major contributors to fatal incidents, such as traffic violations, driving against traffic flow, intoxicated driving and driving PMVs without a driver's license.

While traditional bicycles such as Seoul city's Ttareungi public bike service and pedal-assisted electric bicycles like those serviced by e-bike sharing service Elecle do not require a driver’s license to use, PMVs like electric scooters do.

Despite the introduction of driver’s license requirements for electric riders in 2021, enforcement remains lax among many PMV providers due to a regulatory blind spot that does not mandate these companies to verify user licenses.

Of the 19 shared PMV providers currently operating in Korea, only four enforce license verification. High-usage providers like Gcooter, Swing and XingXing simply recommend but do not enforce license registration.

However, there is currently no data showing a correlation between having a driver’s license and a lower probability of getting into a PMV accident.

When compared to other vehicle types, official traffic safety data shows that the number of PMV accidents has noticeably accelerated. While PMV-related incidents accounted for a mere 0.9 percent of total accidents including all vehicles in 2021, the rate of PMV incidents grew by a substantial 96 percent over a longer course of time between 2017 and 2021.

By contrast, the growth rates accidents related to traditional two-wheelers such as motorcycles was a relatively mere 3.1 percent during the same period.