Chinanews.com, December 2 (Zhang Nigong Hongyu, Zhongxin Finance and Economics) Convenient, fast, and economical... A series of advantages of electric bicycles make it a means of transportation for many people.

However, in recent years, traffic safety accidents involving electric bicycles have occurred frequently. When the "National Traffic Safety Day" comes, this issue has once again attracted attention.

　　The reporter noticed that in recent years, many places have issued corresponding laws and regulations, including specifying that electric bicycle drivers and passengers must wear safety helmets when driving on the road.

Can a major "pain point" of traffic safety be solved?

In the data picture, photo by Xinshe reporter Hou Yu

The high incidence of casualty accidents and the safety of electric bicycles have become "pain points"

　　According to earlier media reports, the social ownership of electric bicycles in China has reached nearly 300 million, making it the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of electric bicycles.

In 2020, the output of electric bicycles has reached 41.261 million, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%.

　　However, with the rapid increase in the number of electric bicycles, the number of road safety accidents related to them has also shown a significant upward trend.

Statistics show that among the casualties of road traffic accidents across the country in 2019, driving electric bicycles caused 8,639 deaths and 44,677 injuries, which is close to 70% of non-motor vehicle casualties.

　　In these traffic accidents, the injuries suffered by children cannot be ignored.

The Road Traffic Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Public Security found through case sampling research that the number of accidents involving children riding electric bicycles accounted for 32.67% of all accidents involving vehicles, and the most important accident injury was head injury.

　　In the face of high-incidence accidents, wearing a helmet has become an important means to ensure the safety of electric bicycle riders and passengers.

　　"We simulated a speed of 10 km/h. After the electric vehicle rider collided with the vehicle, his head collided with the road again. The HIC value (head injury index) without a helmet was as high as 1756.3. It is said that if the HIC exceeds 1700, it will cause fatal injury to the head, but the HIC value is only 235.8 when wearing a helmet, which is the degree of minor abrasions." Zhou Boya, an expert in automobile safety evaluation of China Automobile Center, recently spoke in the public communication research of Renmin University of China Such a set of data was listed in the online seminar on road safety hosted by China.

Many places have introduced local regulations to mandate the wearing of safety helmets

　　The reporter noticed that as of now, many places across the country have issued local legislation on the wearing of electric bicycle helmets, many of which have mandatory regulations and clear penalties.

　　For example, the "Ningbo Non-motor Vehicle Management Regulations" stipulates that electric bicycle drivers should wear safety helmets, and violators may be given a warning or a fine of not less than 20 yuan but not more than 50 yuan.

　　The "Zhengzhou Non-motor Vehicle Management Measures" clearly states that if the driver and passengers of electric bicycles do not wear safety helmets, they will be given a warning or a fine of not less than 20 yuan but not more than 50 yuan.

　　The "Shanghai Non-motor Vehicle Safety Management Regulations" stipulates that both drivers and passengers of electric bicycles should wear safety helmets.

In addition, the "Regulations" also clarified the main responsibilities of non-motor vehicles and platform companies engaged in online delivery activities.

Among them, there are 8 management obligations, including establishing and improving internal traffic safety management systems, urging drivers to abide by road traffic safety laws and regulations, and reasonably determining delivery time and routes.

For riders who have repeatedly violated the regulations and the company refuses to rectify, the punishment measures including credit punishment are clarified.

Data map photo by Jiang Xuelin

Innovative law enforcement methods should be "punished" and "educated" simultaneously

　　Although the local legislation on the wearing of electric bicycle helmets has shown a clear trend of acceleration in recent years, problems such as the design of penalties, inconsistent division of responsibility subjects, and lack of clear regulations on helmet standards have also been exposed during the legislative process.

　　"We have noticed that local governments tend to focus on management and underestimate safety when enacting electric bicycle legislation, and do not pay enough attention to the safety of road participants." Ma Yun, an associate professor at the Institute of Administrative Law of China University of Political Science and Law, believes.

　　In recent years, at the level of law enforcement, local traffic police departments have also carried out a lot of exploration.

　　Taking Jiangsu as an example, the "Jiangsu Province Electric Bicycle Management Regulations" will be officially implemented in July 2020. The regulations clarify that electric bicycles can be enforced off-site, and that driving and riding electric bicycles should wear safety helmets in accordance with regulations.

　　In December of the same year, Jiangsu Province enforced the mandatory wearing of safety helmets while driving electric bicycles, and adopted a sequential punishment method, with a penalty of 20 yuan for the first violation and 50 yuan for the second violation.

　　In Nanjing, safety education and helmet popularization work have also been carried out extensively while law enforcement is in progress.

Driven by the traffic police detachment of Nanjing Public Security Bureau, since 2020, more than 1,400 electric bicycle sales stores in Nanjing have given nearly 1 million safety helmets to new vehicle users for free. Extensive publicity campaigns on traffic safety were carried out.

　　At present, the number of electric bicycles in the city has reached more than 6 million. Through the governance in recent years, the rate of electric bicycles wearing helmets has reached more than 95%.

(Finish)