'Spent around W4m on rentals, never been caught': E-scooter chaos reigns in Daechi-dong hagwon district

A man waits at a crosswalk without a helmet while riding an e-scooter in the hagwon district of Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Monday. [Lee Jun-young/The Herald Business]

"I always ride a scooter to hagwon, but I've never once worn a helmet."

A high school student identified only as A made the remark Monday afternoon while riding an e-scooter without a helmet in the hagwon district of Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

"I think I've spent around 4 million won on scooter rentals going to and from hagwon, but I've never been caught in a crackdown," A said. "Carrying a helmet around is too much of a hassle, so I just don't wear one."

Personal mobility devices, commonly known as e-scooters, have long been a headache on Korean roads. Police and local governments have launched enforcement drives to rein in reckless riding, but lawless behavior has persisted.

In the Daechi-dong hagwon district of Gangnam-gu — where students are particularly heavy users of personal mobility devices — riders wearing helmets were a rare sight. At one crosswalk, a rider shot out of an alley with four seconds left on the pedestrian signal and weaved through foot traffic to cross the street. Others raced at high speed down slopes with limited sightlines, pulling off erratic maneuvers. Returned scooters lay scattered outside designated parking zones.

A man crosses a street without a helmet while riding an e-scooter in the hagwon district of Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Monday. [Lee Jun-young/The Herald Business]

As the summer vacation season got fully underway and students flooded into the hagwon district Monday morning, dangerous scenes involving e-scooters multiplied. Reporters encountered 23 e-scooter riders throughout the day. Of those, only one — a delivery worker — was wearing a helmet.

According to the Traffic Accident Analysis System of the Korea Road Traffic Authority, accidents involving e-scooters and other personal mobility devices totaled 2,386 in 2022, 2,389 in 2023, 2,232 in 2024 and 1,915 in 2025. Dozens of fatal accidents occur every year.

An e-scooter left in the middle of a pedestrian walkway in the hagwon district of Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Monday morning. [Lee Jun-young/The Herald Business]

Students riding without helmets said they knew the risks but felt they had no choice when running late. Park, a 19-year-old high school student, said traffic is so heavy during class hours that even buses get stuck. "When I really need to get somewhere fast, I get off the bus and switch to a scooter," he said.

He added that he knows riding without a helmet carries a fine, but said he has never been stopped. "None of my friends who ride scooters have ever been caught either," he said.

Lee, another 19-year-old student, said he only rides occasionally when he is late for hagwon and does not normally carry a helmet. "Since I'm always in a rush when I ride, I end up parking wherever is convenient," he said.

Police say they enforce violations such as helmet-free riding when they spot them, but cannot dedicate officers solely to monitoring personal mobility devices. An official at the Suseo Police Station said officers issue on-the-spot citations when they observe violations during patrols and field duties. "There have been joint crackdowns on two-wheeled vehicles by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, but no additional special enforcement beyond that," the official said.

Electric bicycles parked on a pedestrian walkway in the hagwon district of Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Monday morning. [Lee Jun-young/The Herald Business]

Illegal parking is as much of a problem as riding accidents. Scooters and electric bicycles left haphazardly throughout Daechi-dong were a common sight Monday. Designated e-scooter parking areas exist, but far more scooters were strewn across roads and sidewalks than parked in their proper spots. The owner of a nearby convenience store said bicycles and scooters were "driving me crazy," adding, "The street is already narrow, and they keep piling up — I've had to move them myself more times than I can count."

"No matter how many times I clear them away, they just keep piling up again — at this point I've given up caring whether there's an accident or not," the owner said. "All the students ride without helmets. I also often see two or three people riding on one scooter at the same time."

Annual personal mobility device towing cases in Gangnam-gu [produced with AI]

Gangnam-gu by far leads Seoul in the number of personal mobility devices towed from public roads. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the district recorded 13,117 towing cases last year — nearly double the 6,829 logged by second-place Songpa-gu. Authorities have yet to find an effective way to prevent illegal parking in the first place and remain stuck in a reactive mode.

A Gangnam-gu district office official said personal mobility device operators bear primary responsibility for managing their equipment. "However, some operators do not run their customer service centers properly, so when complaints come in to the district office, we first forward them to the relevant operator," the official said. Scooters left unattended beyond a set period are relocated by district office staff, and towing fees are then charged to the operators.

An official from a personal mobility device company said the company monitors illegal parking by users and dispatches in-house staff to the scene to address violations. "For helmet non-compliance, we are running campaigns and other initiatives to help establish a safety culture," the official said.

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