Does the old scooter have to "brake" to stop the car
The police from Qingdao Licang Traffic Police Brigade, Qingdao, are teaching road safety knowledge to the elderly.
Xinhua News Agency
In a community in Hebei District, Tianjin, shared bicycles and old-fashioned scooters blocked the fire passages in the community.
Xinhua News Agency
Grandpa Cao Yunfeng is more than 80 years old this year, and his life is still rich and colorful. He often goes to the unit's veteran activity center to play checkers, mahjong, and table tennis.
The difference is that in the few years he retired, he went on foot. Later, the road was a bit longer for him, so he switched to cycling.
Over the past few years, he has struggled to step on the beam of that old bicycle, so he pushed the bicycle that his granddaughter had eliminated, and walked around.
He recently planned to buy an old scooter because an old friend recently drove one.
Old scooters have become a common means of transportation.
If we turn our eyes to the crossroads, we will definitely see that the forms of transportation are becoming more and more diverse. Electric bicycles have become the mainstream choice in many places. Electric tricycles rushing by with our express delivery are called "old age scooter." This kind of low-speed three or four-wheeled scooter travels through the city, and occasionally there are balance bikes and electric scooters.
my country's private car ownership began to grow rapidly in the late 1990s, and experienced explosive growth after the 21st century.
Take Beijing as an example. According to the data of Beijing Transportation Development Institute, at the end of 2000, Beijing had 855,000 private motor vehicles and a permanent population of 13.636 million; by the end of 2018, Beijing’s private car ownership reached 4.894 million. The permanent population is 21.542 million.
In 18 years, the permanent population has increased by 58%, and the number of private motor vehicles has increased by 472.4%.
The rapid expansion of the city has caused the travel distance to continue to increase. In addition to private motor vehicles, fast and convenient electric bicycles and old scooters have also catered to people's new needs.
But this convenience also greatly affects the sense of safety of road users such as car drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.
"The old scooter does not need to get a license plate, buy insurance, or test a driver's license, occupy the road at will, go retrograde, turn, run red lights, and drive fast. I am most afraid of encountering this kind of car when driving." A driver spoke his heart.
According to data released by the public security traffic control department in 2018, in the past five years, there have been 830,000 traffic accidents caused by scooters in the old age, of which 18,000 were killed and 186,000 were injured. The number of accidents and the annual average number of deaths were caused. Increased by 23.3% and 30.9% respectively.
Therefore, calls for strengthening management and rectification are endless.
On June 17, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially solicited opinions on the recommended national standard "Technical Conditions for Pure Electric Passenger Vehicles."
What supporting measures urgently need to keep up?
How to improve the transportation environment?
Still need to pay attention.
1 Production standards and management methods have not yet been clear
According to a road traffic research professional, at first, most of the old scooters were produced by manufacturers such as park sightseeing vehicles, handicapped scooters, and agricultural vehicles, and their operating qualifications could only produce vehicles for use in limited areas.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the cumulative production and sales of new energy vehicles that enjoy financial subsidies and policy support only exceeded the 1 million mark from 2010 to 2017, while the sales of old scooters exceeded one million in 2017.
Speaking of the dangers of scooters in the old age, Leng Haiyang, a researcher at the Comprehensive Transportation Design and Research Institute of China Urban Construction Research Institute Co., Ltd., talked about the problem of speed difference, "The appearance of speed difference is often the decisive factor leading to traffic accidents, such as a person on a highway. Walking on the highway is prone to accidents, so we distinguish between motorized lanes, non-motorized lanes, and sidewalks. The speed of the old scooters is between people and cars. It is much faster than bicycles and walking, but slower than cars. As a result, it may conflict in any lane."
According to research, when the speed difference is 8, 16, 24, and 32 kilometers per hour, the accident probability is 2 times, 4 times, 8 times, and 16 times that of the same speed, respectively.
The survey shows that 73% of the older scooters currently travel at an average speed of 30-40 km/h, while more than 60% of motor vehicles travel at an average speed of more than 60 km/h. The speed difference between the two is mostly 24 km/h. Above, that is, the accident probability is more than 8 times. If the traffic is mixed in a non-motorized vehicle lane, the accident probability is also more than 4 times.
Although the dangers are obvious, the production standards and management methods of the old scooters have not yet been clear, and even their positioning is very vague.
"Whether it is positioned as a motorized vehicle or a non-motorized vehicle, or just a means of transportation for the elderly in the community with limited legs and feet, is still unclear." Professor Ye Long of Beijing Jiaotong University and Beijing Comprehensive Transportation Development Institute pointed out.
Similarly, electric bicycles have been in a gray area for a long time.
"According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2000, the national output of electric bicycles was 290,000, and the output increased year by year. In 2011, the number of electric bicycles increased by 22.7%, reaching the peak of growth. Since then, the growth rate has slowed down, but it has continued to grow. Trend. In 2019, the number of electric bicycles in my country has reached about 300 million, and the number of electric tricycles in the market has reached 75 million." Ye Long said.
The mandatory national standards for electric bicycles were not promulgated until 2018.
The following year, the Ministry of Public Security and other three ministries and commissions issued a document requiring the registration and management of electric bicycles, but this did not mean that the problem was solved. One of the reasons was that there was a large stock of electric bicycles before the promulgation of the standards, and most of them exceeded the limits required by national standards. Speed and weight limit are difficult to manage and even difficult to find.
Some traffic police said frankly that, for traffic management, every new type of transportation means the management pressure will increase exponentially.
"Currently, the cameras on the road are mainly used to take pictures of motor vehicles. To reach the level of taking pictures of electric bicycles and scooters in the old age, a lot of cost is required." Ye Long said.
2 Iterative standard setting process
The situation of using old scooters varies from place to place.
Beijing, Nanjing and other places have launched strict inspections on multiple links such as illegal and illegal operation of scooters in the old age.
"The supervision of the old scooters should be the whole process. The production link is managed by the industry and information department, the sales link is managed by the market supervision department, and the use link is managed by the public security transportation department. At present, the front-end links continue to owe debts and rely solely on the end of the use link. Governance is destined to be slow and weak.” said Yuan Zhenlong, director of the Capital Comprehensive Management Institute of Social Security, Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.
According to traffic and road research professionals, the delay in issuing standards is due to the failure to reach consensus on the opinions of all parties.
On the whole, the competent government departments have not adopted a “one size fits all” approach to the old scooters, and put forward the governance ideas of “upgrading one batch, standardizing one batch, and eliminating one batch”. They have also experienced several times in the process of formulating standards. repeatedly.
In April 2016, the National Standardization Management Committee conducted a public consultation on the "Four-wheel Low-speed Electric Passenger Vehicle Technical Requirements", but it has not been finalized in more than two years.
In October 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the “Response to Recommendation No. 6432 of the Fifth Session of the Twelfth National People’s Congress”, clarifying that four-wheel low-speed electric vehicles are a special category of motor vehicles, requiring the strengthening of production consistency supervision, research and formulation of unified Regulations on low-speed electric license plates, registration, driving qualifications, and related taxes and fees.
However, in November 2018, six ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Transport, and the State Administration for Market Supervision issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Low-speed Electric Vehicles" and put forward quite strict governance and rectification opinions.
Regardless of the formulation of relevant development policies and access conditions, the establishment of new low-speed electric vehicle companies, and the filing of related investment projects, they will all be required to stop.
Regions that have formulated and issued relevant policies must immediately stop the implementation, and the projects under construction must be corrected immediately to ensure that the production capacity of low-speed electric vehicles does not increase.
The situation has changed again in the past two years.
In September 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology mentioned in its response to Recommendation No. 7609 of the Third Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress that the draft standard "Technical Conditions for Four-Wheel Low-speed Electric Vehicles" has been formed.
On June 17, the standards that had been brewing for many years were finally approaching. The "Technical Conditions for Pure Electric Passenger Vehicles (Draft for Comment)" named the controversial old scooter as a "mini low-speed pure electric passenger vehicle." Considered as a sub-category of pure electric passenger cars, it stipulates that there are no more than 4 seats, no more than 70 kilometers per hour, and requirements for post-collision safety, braking performance, stability, vehicle power performance, and power battery Corresponding indicator requirements have been put forward in other aspects.
Although it is one step closer to legality, there are still many issues that need attention. Many netizens have asked how to support road management, how to require driving licenses and vehicle licenses, and whether quality assurance, maintenance, and scrapping can be implemented in the same standards as standard electric vehicles. Both need to be further clarified.
The production and management of scooters in the old age are also controversial abroad.
There are also a small number of such vehicles in Europe, America and Japan.
It is understood that the US Highway Traffic Safety Administration emphasizes that such vehicles can only drive on roads that are closed or where safety risks can be controlled.
Some grassroots governments will invite professional organizations to formulate specific driving roads, such as connecting roads between closed areas such as residences, golf courses, and parks.
The United States also requires a car driver's license to drive low-speed vehicles, while Japan requires drivers to have a driver's license or receive necessary training.
3 Creating a friendly travel environment requires overall consideration of urban planning
Although Grandpa Cao Yunfeng’s idea was unanimously opposed by his children, his children could not provide him with a better choice: The public transportation platform is still a certain distance away from home, and Grandpa Cao Yunfeng is already struggling to walk; he does not know how to use taxi-hailing software. , It is also impossible to get a car at home, not to mention that most elderly people are reluctant to take a taxi to travel.
Although the old age scooter is a traffic problem, it is not only related to the traffic order and the development of related industries, but also related to the travel needs of the people, which is a comprehensive livelihood issue.
As the aging of our society continues to deepen, how to protect the travel rights of the elderly has become a problem that must be faced.
The development of public transportation with wider coverage and more comfortable environment is still the first choice.
It is understood that the existing conceptual design has greatly reduced the traditional size of the bus, the projected area of the body is reduced, the road resources are reduced, and the strong maneuverability allows it to enter the interior of large buildings such as apartment buildings, office buildings, and supermarkets. Zero transfer and commute, solve the "last mile" problem.
Even if it is not the elderly with inconvenient legs, they have their own corresponding needs.
"Most of the people who use scooters are elderly people who help take their grandchildren to elementary school, or mothers who pick up children and buy groceries, and some scooters say'dialysis for self-use' and'for self-use', even if they are used The black cars that come for short-distance soliciting may also be groups with unsatisfactory living conditions. These are disadvantaged groups. If the country does not have uniform laws and regulations, the traffic police law enforcement is too strict, which can easily stimulate social conflicts." Senior road researcher said.
In this regard, Leng Haiyang pointed out the problem of the right of way: "Our country is densely populated and road resources are very limited. At present, the right of way for scooters in the old age is not clear, which greatly interferes with normal traffic. Some groups occupy a lot of social resources for their convenience. It is very unfair to other road users."
To solve the traffic problem by widening the road and increasing the road area, when this road is not accessible, is there any other more ideal way to meet the new demands of people?
Leng Haiyang believes that there is no doubt that not all personalized travel needs can be met, and the entire transportation system should not be affected by the preferences of individuals or some groups, but the public needs to make the public feel that there is a good alternative.
"Although we have been advocating green travel, in fact, the overall operating efficiency of buses is not high. It is difficult to say that the punctuality, speed, and vehicle conditions are satisfactory. The sense of dignity of walking and cycling is even more difficult to talk about. "Leng Haian analysis shows that there is a lack of street crossing facilities, sidewalks are occupied or even interrupted, and electric bicycles, scooters and even motorized vehicles go back and forth on the sidewalks. People who choose to go slow not only do not have a good travel experience, but also cannot guarantee safety. "Since I feel that It's not good. It's more convenient to drive a scooter by himself, so that he will not consider other ways, forming a vicious circle."
After several communications, the family found that what they understood was that the old scooters and what Grandpa Cao Yunfeng wanted were not the same. What Grandpa Cao wanted was actually a non-motorized vehicle that was closer to a scooter for the disabled.
Disabled scooter is allowed to be used on non-motorized roads, but when he wants to go to a longer distance destination, he will face the problem of connecting with public transportation.
“Most of our buses have a height difference with the bus station and do not have auxiliary equipment. Therefore, disabled vehicles cannot get on the bus and cannot travel without barriers.” The aforementioned traffic road research professional added that public transportation should be increased. The attractiveness of the city requires the creation of a friendly travel environment, which requires overall consideration in urban planning, transportation planning, and community planning.
(Our reporter Chen Huijuan)