How to treat electric bicycles "rampantly overbearing"
Investigation on the chaos of electric bicycle traffic
● In recent years, more and more people choose to travel by electric bicycles, and the sales market of electric bicycles continues to grow.
At the same time, there are increasing numbers of violations of laws and regulations such as retrograde, speeding, overloading, and running traffic lights.
● E-bike riders illegally drive, leading to frequent traffic accidents, which has become one of the focus of the traffic control department in recent years
● At intersections where there are frequent break-throughs, detection devices, electronic monitoring and other facilities can be added to supervise illegal behaviors of electric bicycles.
At the same time, local governments should further introduce corresponding laws and regulations to strengthen penalties for illegal activities of electric bicycles.
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
□ Intern Yang Yinan
"I really love and hate electric bicycles. I love its lightness, quickness and ease of operation, and I am afraid that someone will ride it retrograde, run red lights, and speed." A month ago, Beijing citizen Zhao Jinggang bought an electric bicycle. She said this when talking about riding experience.
Because of its flexibility, compactness, lightness and convenience, environmental protection and energy conservation, electric bicycles are popular among some people.
In recent years, more and more people choose to travel by electric bicycles, and the sales market of electric bicycles continues to grow.
As of June 2021, the number of electric two-wheel and three-wheel bicycles in my country has exceeded 350 million, and it is still growing at an annual rate of 30%.
However, with the rapid popularity of electric bicycles, there are more and more violations of laws and regulations, such as retrograde, speeding, overloading, and running traffic lights.
Relevant data show that among the casualties of road traffic accidents across the country in 2019, 8639 were killed and 44,677 were injured by driving electric bicycles, and the number of casualties was close to 70% of the casualties of non-motor vehicles.
A reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" recently conducted an investigation around the chaos of electric bicycle traffic.
Some car owners went on a rampage
A serious threat to traffic safety
For Zhao Jing, who lives in the second ring road of Xicheng in Beijing, electric bicycles can be said to be just needed now, because it is too difficult to drive out: the old community does not have fixed parking spaces, and it is difficult to find parking spaces when driving back; if you choose to drive to school to pick up your children, 2.5 For a distance of kilometers, you have to drive at least 40 minutes to get home during the evening rush hour.
After struggling for nearly a month, Zhao Jing had to join the "electric bicycle army."
In the past, she was full of "prejudice" towards electric bicycles, and she could hide as far as she could. Many car owners completely ignored the traffic rules and rode on rampages.
This "prejudice" was due to a traffic accident.
A few years ago, when Zhao Jing turned right into Yongding Road from Yuquan Road in Haidian District, Beijing, a silver-gray electric bicycle appeared in the mirror, and the vehicle drove quickly from the right side of her body.
When she found that the owner did not intend to slow down, she had to take braking measures, but the front wheel of the electric bicycle still banged into the right front door of her car.
When Zhao Jing got off the car to check the damage, the owner of the electric bicycle had already escaped.
"On that day, the speed of electric bicycles may be 50 kilometers per hour." Zhao Jing said, if there is a personal injury, I don't know if I should be held responsible, "think about it and regret it."
Master Zhang, the driver of a taxi in Beijing, talked about electric bicycles.
In the crowded traffic, he often saw electric bicycles overtaking effortlessly and then drove away.
"When I encounter an electric bike, I try to avoid it. Otherwise, if I hit it, I will be the one who is unlucky."
In the first week of school, Zhao Jing once walked to pick up the children, and once again encountered a "dominant" electric bicycle on the road.
At that time, she was preparing to cross the road from west to east at the intersection of traffic lights.
When the green light was reached, as soon as she stepped off the sidewalk, an electric bicycle went retrograde from south to north, rushed straight over and hit her directly.
"What makes me even more irritating is that I haven't said anything yet, and the other party first reprimanded me for'walking and not looking at the Tao'." Zhao Jing, who was in shock at the time, was quite angry at this inexplicable accusation.
Yang Yi (pseudonym), a graduate student in a university in Beijing, had a similar experience.
One day, after Yang Yi went out, she swept a shared bicycle on the side of the road. She planned to push it onto the bike lane and ride it. But before she could get on the bike, a retrograde electric bicycle suddenly rushed out from the opposite side and hit her car basket. .
When she was relieved, the other party had already run away.
After this incident, Yang Yi was very careful every time she went out, “especially at some intersections, you should look carefully at the front and rear, left and right, and worry about the electric bicycle going retrograde.”
Retrograde electric bicycles are also common in Zhumadian City, Henan Province.
Liu Hua (a pseudonym), a local citizen, noticed that there will be a lot of electric bicycles on the road, especially during holidays.
"In order to pass the congested road quickly, these electric bike owners basically drill wherever there are seams." Liu Hua said, when there is no traffic police on duty at the intersection, many car owners simply do not see whether it is a red light or a green light. Rushed past.
Retrograde speeding trespassing red light
Illegal chaos continues to be banned repeatedly
On the morning of November 29th, the reporter came to an intersection in the northwest corner of Communication University of China-Chaoyang Road, Dingfuzhuang East Street and Dingfuzhuang North Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, meet here. There are 3 primary and secondary schools and 2 nearby. Universities.
The reporter observed for half an hour and found that due to the recent low temperature, a large number of citizens who ride electric bicycles wear cotton caps, and only a small number of citizens wear helmets.
Within 5 minutes from 7:50 to 7:55, a total of 83 electric bicycles drove west to east along Chaoyang Road at the intersection, and only 8 people wore helmets.
From 8:20 to 8:20 the next day, the reporter saw at several intersections of Baiyun Road in Xicheng District, Beijing, that only about 10 car owners were wearing helmets, and the remaining hundreds of people were not wearing helmets.
It is also common for electric bicycles to cross the line to stop and run red lights.
At the intersection of Qingnian Road and Chaoyang North Road in Chaoyang District, Beijing, a large number of electric bicycles are parked far across the zebra crossing, and some electric bicycles have even approached the motor vehicle lanes.
The reporter noticed that some of these electric bicycle owners are office workers and some are takeaway brothers.
At 17:05 on November 29, a takeaway boy dressed in blue sprang out from the northeast corner of the intersection, and then suddenly turned the front of the car diagonally across the center of the intersection. At that time, there were red lights in the east-west and north-south directions.
Six minutes later, three more electric bicycles were forced to stop in the middle of the road when they ran a red light, surrounded by traffic.
In the evening, at the intersection of Chaoyang North Road and Shifoying Road, a large number of electric vehicles that crossed the line formed an "electric bicycle wall", moving slowly under the urging of vehicles turning right, slowly moving out a small opening.
Subsequently, this "vehicle wall" was divided into two parts by right-turning vehicles, and the electric vehicles near the center of the road were surrounded by the flow of through traffic and the flow of right-turning traffic.
At the same time, the "vehicle wall" also hinders the passage of non-motorized vehicles in the other direction. Some motor vehicles are forced to borrow motorized lanes while passing through the intersection, which further occupies the passage space of motor vehicles.
At the southwest corner of the intersection, a coordinator wearing a yellow vest shouted vigorously, "It's a red light, wait a moment, pay attention to safety", but a large wave of electric bicycle owners turned a blind eye, as if flooding the gates. Passed the red light.
The rampage of electric bicycles not only affected the speed of motor vehicles, but also further aggravated the congestion at intersections.
At the morning rush hour at Baiyun Road intersection, two or three east-west motor vehicles are often stranded at the intersection because they give way to red lights and electric bicycles that cross the line to stop. These motor vehicles are surrounded by electric bicycles and cannot move. It becomes an obstacle that hinders vehicles traveling north-south.
After a few seconds, the flow of electric bicycles receded, and the stranded motor vehicles drove away from the intersection, and the traffic order returned to normal.
In addition, some electric bicycles occupy the sidewalk and run illegally.
The reporter visited on the spot and found that on Chaoyang Road, the non-motorized lanes from east to west were more congested. Some electric bicycles drove into the sidewalk and queued through the intersection. Some electric bicycles came from the opposite side of the road and also drove into the sidewalk in reverse. .
In Muxidi Nanli and the south side of Binhe Road in Baiyunguan, there are more than 10 electric bicycles driving on the sidewalk, and several of them are retrograde.
Frequent traffic accidents
Penalties need to be strengthened
Owners of electric bicycles illegally drive, leading to frequent traffic accidents, which has become one of the focuses of public security traffic management departments in recent years.
In Beijing, starting from November 1st, excessive electric bicycles driving on the road will face a penalty of detention and a fine of 1,000 yuan.
As of 18:00 on November 2, the Beijing traffic police warned and seized 6,585 illegal electric bicycles.
In Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, since March this year, Guangzhou Traffic Police has investigated and dealt with 301,000 electric bicycle traffic violations.
From April 15, 2019, my country's new mandatory national standard for electric bicycles "E-bike Safety Technical Specifications" was formally implemented.
In order to implement the new standards, the State Administration of Market Supervision, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of the Implementation of National Standards for Electric Bicycles."
The promulgation of these documents has played a positive role in regulating the production, sales, traffic and use of electric bicycles and improving the product quality and safety performance of electric bicycles.
So, why do electric bicycle safety accidents still happen from time to time?
Zhang Zhuting, director of the Development Research Center of the School of Management Cadres of the Ministry of Transport, believes that the main reasons include: lack of a mandatory registration system. Because electric bicycles are not registered, it is difficult to find the parties after violations of laws and regulations. Therefore, for electric bicycles, various traffic law enforcement is difficult. Implementation; the standard for non-motor vehicle traffic laws and regulations for fines is 5 yuan to 50 yuan, and the penalty is relatively weak; in some places, half of the non-motor vehicle lanes are designated as motor vehicle parking spaces or motor vehicles are allowed to drive on the road. Where there is a motor vehicle lane, there are parking spaces on both sides of the lane, which is actually squeezing the right of way for non-motor vehicles; the parties have a low awareness of law-abiding.
"Many cities put electric bicycles on bicycle lanes, but electric bicycles are faster and sometimes mixed into motor lanes. The potential safety hazards are more prominent." Chen Yanyan, Dean of Beijing University of Technology's School of Urban Transportation, believes that electric bicycles are starting The speed is faster, and there will be a phenomenon of rushing when the green light is released at the intersection. In fact, it is also a safety hazard. At the same time, it will affect the efficiency of the intersection and aggravate the traffic disorder.
"If the police force is sufficient, this problem will be greatly improved, but in many places the strength of patrols, co-policemen, and inspectors is limited." Chen Yanyan suggested strengthening information-based methods to assist supervision, such as increasing at some intersections where there are frequent violations. Detection devices, electronic monitoring and other facilities supervise illegal behaviors of electric bicycles.
At the same time, localities should further introduce corresponding laws and regulations to strengthen penalties for illegal activities of electric bicycles.
“The groups that use more electric bicycles are mostly employees in the new business, such as couriers and delivery workers. There was no law to restrict them in the past. They agreed that riding bicycles in this industry is a personal behavior. But with the development of society, it should be It is regarded as an occupational issue, so enterprises also need to bear part of the responsibility." Zhang Zhuting suggested that scientific legislation should be adopted to balance the relationship between individuals, enterprises, and users (mainly consumers of new formats).
“Nowadays, there are strict time limits for take-out. When users over-require the take-out staff to deliver quickly, it will also bring greater pressure to the take-out staff, resulting in traffic violations. In the design of the platform algorithm, full consideration should also be given to the actual situation of the road. , Don’t force the couriers and takeaways to run the red light in a hurry.” Zhang Zhuting said.
Manga / Takaoka