Dozens of shared e-scooters lined up on a street Thursday, near Apgujeong Rodeo Station in Gangnam, Seoul. Korea Times photo by Oh Se-woon

Former English Premier League footballer Jesse Lingard, currently plying his trade with FC Seoul, was fined 190,000 won ($142) Thursday by the police for multiple violations, including unlicensed driving, not wearing a helmet, exceeding the passenger limit, and driving against the flow of traffic.

Lingard posted a video on social media three days earlier showing him riding an electric scooter near Apgujeong Rodeo Station on the Suin–Bundang Line in Seoul's Gangnam District.

What's surprising is that despite being banned from driving in the U.K. for 18 months due to a DUI last September, Lingard was able to rent and ride an e-scooter in Korea, which requires at least a moped license.

A visit to the Apgujeong area on the afternoon of Wednesday by a Hankook Ilbo reporter revealed that the mystery was easily solved: users can rent e-scooters without immediately registering a license.

Additionally, very few riders were seen wearing helmets. One user, Kim Min-kyu, 31, said, "I ride e-scooters often, but I've never been caught for not wearing a helmet."

This situation has led some to defend Lingard, questioning why only celebrities are being targeted when many people ride e-scooters without licenses or helmets.

The issue stems from the fact that, under current laws, e-scooter-sharing companies are not obligated to verify licenses, placing the responsibility solely on the user, as seen in Lingard's case. Tests of five popular e-scooter apps, each with over a million downloads on Google Play, confirmed that all allowed users to rent them without license verification.

For example, the app Lingard used didn't even mention the need for a license or helmet during the sign-up and rental process. It allowed users to rent scooters using only a Google or Apple account without additional identity verification.

Other apps were similar: one app displayed a notice that a license was required but provided a "register later" option that then allowed immediate access.

Another warned that failing to register a license could result in speed limits, but users were still able to reach the legal speed limit of 25 kilometers per hour during actual use. Only one of the five apps recommended wearing a helmet.

FC Seoul attacking midfielder Jesse Lingard / Yonhap

Rising accidents and teen misuse

The lax rental system for e-scooters has led to an increase in accidents. According to the Korea Road Traffic Authority, accidents involving personal mobility devices like e-scooters surged from 117 in 2017 to 2,389 in 2023. Over the past three years alone, 69 people have died and 7,207 have been injured in such incidents.

E-scooters are also being misused by teenagers for reckless driving stunts, which they then post on social media, contributing to a new social issue.

Groups like Z-Scooter Reckless Driving Union have emerged, exploiting the fact that no license is required. The leader of one such group, apprehended in August, was a high school student.

Kim Pil-soo, a professor of future automotive studies at Daelim University, emphasized the need for system improvements to prevent unlicensed users from renting e-scooters. He also proposed amending the law to allow minors to receive training and certification through schools as an alternative to obtaining a license.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.