In this file photo from Oct. 29, 2021, electric scooters are parked by a road in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Accidents and deaths caused by electric scooters and other personal mobility vehicles have increased dramatically over the last five years, data showed Monday.
Rep. Oh Yeong-hwan of the Democratic Party referred to a report submitted by the Korea Road Traffic Authority indicating that the number of accidents caused by personal mobility vehicles has jumped by a factor of 10 from 117 cases in 2017 to 1,735 cases in 2021.
The number of deaths also rose from four people in 2017 to 19 people in 2021, which indicates that 13 people are killed every 1,000 accidents.
Sorted by the type of accidents that occurred in the last five years, pedestrian accidents (1,191 cases, 34.8 percent) accounted for the majority of accidents, followed by car accidents (1,146 cases), bicycle accidents (208 cases) and accidents caused by other two-wheel vehicles (200 cases).
Among the top eight traffic zones with the highest concentration of accidents in the country, five were located in Seoul’s Gangnam disctrict, due to a relatively high concentration of e-scooter sharing services in the region.
The increasing number of personal mobility users is resulting in higher cases of fire.
The National Fire Agency reported that fires caused by e-scooters and e-bikes jumped from seven cases in 2017 to 45 cases in 2020 and 50 cases in 2021.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
