Shared E-scooter speed limit reduced to 20km/h

A pilot project to lower the speed limit for shared electric scooters (personal mobility devices, or PMs) to 20 kilometers per hour (km/h) from the current 25 km/h will be conducted until the end of the year. The government plans to revise the law if the pilot program proves effective in preventing accidents.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced the plan on Monday, signing an MOU with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, the National Police Agency, the Korea Road Traffic Authority, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, and 10 PM device rental companies to strengthen the safety management of personal mobility devices. Under the agreement, from this month until the end of the year, the ten companies, including The Swing (Swing), G-Bike (Gcoo), Beam Mobility Korea (Beam), Olulo (KickGoing), PUMP (Xingxing), Deer Corporation (Deer), Alpha Mobility (Alpaca), Dart Sharing (Dart), Flying, and DGood (Tagoga), will conduct a pilot project to lower the maximum speed of devices to 20 kilometers per hour in major cities across the country, including Seoul and Busan.

The project comes in response to a steady increase in PM accidents over the past five years, prompting concerns about the need for strengthened safety measures. According to the Korea Road Traffic Authority's Traffic Accident Analysis System, PM accidents surged from 447 in 2019 to 2,389 last year. Fatalities also tripled from eight to 24 during the same period. Research from the Samsung Traffic Safety Research Institute indicates that reducing the top speed of electric scooters to 20 kilometers per hour decreases stopping distance by 26 percent and impact force by 36 percent. "If the pilot demonstrates that lowering the maximum speed reduces traffic accidents, we will actively consider amending relevant laws such as the Road Traffic Act," stated an official from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The government has decided to crack down on electric scooter safety rules violations from this month until September. Starting in August, the National Police Agency will crack down on violations of significant safety rules, such as not wearing a safety helmet, driving without a license, violating driving roads, and riding with more than two people, following a two-week guidance and promotion period starting on the 15th.


이소정 기자 sojee@donga.com