Lee Jae-myung: "Personal Mobility as Safe and Efficient Future Transportation"...Building Public-Private Cooperation System

[Suwon Ilbo=Park Noh-hoon Reporter] A public-private cooperation system at the Gyeonggi Province level has been established to create a safe usage environment for personal mobility devices (PM: Personal Mobility, small-scale mobile devices powered by electricity) and to promote correct usage culture.

Governor Lee Jae-myung signed a "Business Agreement between Relevant Agencies and PM Sharing Companies for Creating a Safe Usage Environment for Personal Mobility Devices" on the afternoon of the 2nd at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Situation Room with Gyeonggi Provincial Superintendent of Education Lee Jae-jeong, Gyeonggi Mayors and Governors Council Chairman Kwak Sang-wook, Gyeonggi Southern Police Commissioner Kim Won-jun, Gyeonggi Northern Police Commissioner Woo Jong-soo, Korea Road Traffic Authority President Lee Ju-min, and 13 PM sharing operators.

This agreement is part of follow-up measures to systematically implement the "Gyeonggi Province Promotion Strategy for Creating Safe and Convenient Personal Mobility Usage Environment" announced last December, aimed at promoting the utilization of personal mobility devices such as electric kickboards and creating a safe and convenient usage environment.

The signatory organizations have agreed to prepare and implement various measures to systematically establish and spread a safe usage culture and to ensure a smooth landing of PM as a new transportation mode.

First, the Province will serve as an overall control tower by "creating PM travel roads considering convenience and safety and preparing and distributing safety usage guidelines," "selecting pilot districts and supporting dedicated parking lot construction," "producing and distributing standard parking lot designs and implementation design guidelines," and "producing and distributing safety promotion content and conducting education."

Each city and county will be responsible for "creating PM-usable bicycle paths," "maintaining safety facilities," and "installing and managing PM-exclusive parking lots," while the Provincial Office of Education will actively cooperate in implementing safety education for students and distributing safety promotion materials.

The Southern and Northern Police Agencies will focus on guidance and crackdowns against illegal activities, while the Korea Road Traffic Authority will share research results on PM operation status and safety accidents with related agencies, as well as work to develop and distribute relevant educational materials.

Sharing operators have promised to rent PM only to those holding motor vehicle licenses or higher until May, when the strengthened Road Traffic Act takes effect.

In addition, they will cooperate in obtaining insurance that meets user protection requirements, guiding device returns within designated areas according to guidelines, and promoting a safe usage culture through displaying safety promotion videos and dedicated parking lot locations on the shared PM platform.

Going forward, the Province plans to organize and operate a "PM Safety Council" with participating signatory organizations to ensure that the projects stipulated in the agreement are implemented as planned.

Governor Lee Jae-myung said on the day, "While traditionally automobiles have been the main mode of transportation, with technological revolution, personal mobility devices are expected to become the mainstream," and "they will become a means to solve urban traffic congestion and make people's lives more pleasant."

He continued, "Now it is necessary to prevent safety accidents related to personal mobility devices as much as possible and to prevent and sanction violations of the rules we have agreed upon," and emphasized, "Let us prepare in advance through close consultation and work to establish it as a safe and efficient transportation mode."