How to manage electric bicycles in the community?
Reporter investigates the difficulty of electric bicycle governance
● In recent years, fires have been caused by the spontaneous combustion of electric bicycles in buildings, and accidents causing casualties have occurred from time to time.
Some electric bicycles are prone to fire or even explode due to overload, short circuit, poor contact, etc. during the charging process due to their own design problems and irregular use, which can easily cause casualties and property losses.
● Targeted publicity and education should be increased to let residents truly understand the dangers of fires caused by electric bicycles, consciously abide by relevant regulations, supervise and urge each other, and form a community that prevents electric bicycle fires and prevents electric bicycles from entering buildings.
● When planning and constructing communities, relevant departments should set up reasonable areas for charging and parking electric vehicles, and community neighborhood committees and properties should promptly open up reasonable places for use.
At the same time, for behaviors such as entering buildings with electric bicycles and privately modifying electric bicycles, the relevant supervisory bodies should be clarified, and corrections and penalties should be made.
□ Our newspaper trainee reporter Sun Tianjiao
□ Our reporter Chen Lei
"There is another person pushing an electric bicycle into the elevator, do you care about it, what if something really happened?!" On the afternoon of July 9, Ms. Chen, who was returning home from get off work, called the neighborhood committee.
She felt that she was a little hysterical—because the problem was always unsolved.
Ms. Chen lives in an old community in Wangjing, Chaoyang District, Beijing. She has reported many times about electric bicycles entering elevators and placing them in corridors. The neighborhood committee always replied that they would strengthen publicity and guidance, but they have not seen any effect.
"I'm really afraid that one day the tragedy in the news will happen by my side." She told a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily.
In recent years, accidents have occurred frequently due to fires caused by spontaneous combustion of electric bicycles in buildings.
According to data released by the Fire and Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Emergency Management, there are about 2,000 electric bicycle fires across the country each year; 90% of the cases that cause casualties occur in public places such as hallways and stairwells.
So, why is it difficult to manage the problem of electric bicycles entering buildings, and how to manage it?
The reporter conducted an in-depth investigation.
Spontaneous combustion accidents occur frequently
Residents are still lucky
That day, when Ms. Chen came home from get off work and was about to take the elevator, she saw a woman pushing an electric bicycle to get into the elevator, and a five or six-year-old boy was next to her.
"Hello, electric bicycles can't enter the elevator. In case something goes wrong, let alone you still bring your children." Ms. Chen stopped the other party to persuade.
"It's all right, this car was bought by a regular store and it's safe." The other party replied.
Ms. Chen pressed the elevator door button to continue to persuade. The other party became impatient and said, "You are too wide. I have been pushing home for so many years and I have never had a problem."
In the end, there was really no way, Ms. Chen had to exit the elevator by herself and wait for the next elevator.
"It's unreasonable." Later, when interviewed by reporters in the elevator of the community, Ms. Chen was still aggrieved.
She pointed to a display screen in the elevator, which was playing a video of the spontaneous combustion of an electric bicycle in an elevator in a community in Chengdu, Sichuan Province on May 10 this year.
The reporter saw that in the video, a man pushed an electric bicycle into the elevator. At the moment when the elevator door was closed, the electric bicycle suddenly burst into flames.
At that time, there were 3 men in the elevator, and a woman was holding a baby. Within 3 seconds, flames swallowed the entire elevator room, causing many people including the baby to be burned.
According to public reports, in recent years, electric bicycles have spontaneously ignited after entering buildings or elevators, or they have caught fire while charging, causing casualties.
On September 4, 2020, Wang Mou, a resident of Chaoyang District, Beijing, took his electric bicycle battery home, and spontaneously burned while charging on the balcony, causing his son to be burned seriously; August 7 of the same year, Jinling, Gulou District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province In the corridor of a residential building in the village, an electric bicycle suddenly exploded and caught fire, killing three people.
"I have children myself, and I am very worried after seeing these news. What makes me even more scared is that I often see people pushing electric bicycles in and out, and up and down the elevator." Ms. Chen said.
Ms. Chen's experience is not alone.
A reporter from the "Rule of Law" recently visited 11 communities in Beijing, Hebei, and Tianjin, and found that in 9 communities, there are electric bicycles parked in the building lobby or at the safety exit, and many residents push their electric bicycles to take the elevator.
There are high risks and hidden dangers when electric bicycles enter buildings.
Professor Kou Liping, director of the Public Security Emergency Police Department of the People’s Public Security University of China, said that some electric bicycles are prone to fire or even explode due to overload, short circuit, poor contact, etc. due to their own design problems and irregular use during the charging process. Inflammable and combustible materials are usually used for housing, cushions, controllers, lamps, etc., which burn quickly after a fire, and a large amount of toxic substances will be produced in a short time, which can easily cause casualties and property losses.
"In life, some residents pull electric wires privately outside the building to charge, and some carry batteries upstairs to charge. This is not the correct charging method, which only increases the risk of fire." Kou Liping said that in recent years, such fires have occurred frequently and Caused serious casualties, but many people are still lucky, this should be paid attention to.
Verbal dissuasion has little effect
Property expresses powerlessness
On the day of the interview, Ms. Chen took the reporter to the neighborhood committee of her community to complain and asked the neighborhood committee to rectify the behavior of electric bicycles entering the building.
Residents’ committee staff responded that they would increase publicity and guidance, but they could do nothing but verbally discourage residents who entered the building with carts, “because we have no right to punish them”.
The reporter noticed that at the gate of the building where Ms. Chen is located and next to the elevator on the first floor, the neighborhood committee’s leaflet on prohibiting electric bicycles from entering the building was posted — “No electric bicycles are allowed to enter the stairs, charge on the floors, and occupy Prologues such as "safe passage" "E-bike catches fire in just 100 seconds".
An electric bicycle is parked at the foot of the pedestrian stairs on the first floor of the unit, which has been covered with a layer of dust.
Ms. Chen told reporters that after she discovered this electric bicycle more than half a month ago, she called the neighborhood committee as soon as possible.
The next day, the electric bicycle was posted on the "Beijing Property Management District Bad Behavior Persuasion Notice", which read "Our company found during the inspection on June 21, 2021 that you (unit) exist in a public corridor Storage of electric bicycles and other bad behaviors, which are suspected of violating the relevant provisions of relevant laws and regulations. As the management unit of this project, in accordance with management responsibilities and the requirements of relevant industry authorities, you (unit) are advised to stop the above-mentioned bad behaviors immediately and take your own initiative If the rectification is in place, our company will do a good job of cooperation."
But to this day, this electric bicycle is still parked in the same place.
"We are indeed concerned about the improper parking of electric bicycles in the community, but because we do not have the right to penalize, there is no better way other than posting slogans and daily persuasion. We also feel very helpless about this." The neighborhood committee A staff member surnamed Zhao said, "If the residents have a dispute over this matter, we will come forward to mediate."
Regarding the behavior of the community property that only issued a notice of dissuasion for electric bicycles parked in the corridor without further measures, the reporter asked the property company about the situation by telephone.
The staff member Mr. Gao told reporters: "This situation has been reported to the relevant departments, and there is no follow-up instruction, and we can't do anything."
In June of this year, the Ministry of Emergency Management announced the "Regulations on Fire Safety Management of High-Rise Civil Buildings", which will be formally implemented on August 1 this year.
It stipulates that parking electric bicycles or recharging electric bicycles in public halls, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits of high-rise civil buildings and refusing to make corrections may be fined up to 10,000 yuan.
The phenomenon of entering the building has been repeatedly banned
The reason behind it is worth pondering
In fact, in response to the parking problem of electric bicycles, relevant departments have issued several documents in recent years that prohibit:
In December 2017, the Ministry of Public Security issued the "Notice on Regulating the Parking and Charging of Battery Cars and Strengthening Fire Prevention", stating that citizens should park battery cars in a safe place and ensure safety when charging.
It is strictly forbidden to stop or charge the battery car in public areas such as shared walkways, stairwells, and safety exits in the building.
In May 2018, the Office of the Work Safety Committee of the State Council held a video conference on the comprehensive fire safety management of electric bicycles and proposed that multiple measures should be taken to fundamentally solve the problems of electric bicycles entering buildings and homes, people and vehicles sharing houses, and cutting off the occurrence of fires. Chain.
Then why does the phenomenon of electric bicycles entering buildings continue to be repeatedly banned?
In the past few days, reporters interviewed many residents in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and found that some residents have no risk awareness and are not aware of the hazards of electric bicycles entering buildings; some residents are aware of the hazards, but are lucky; others know that there are certain risks, but The reason is that there is no charging place in the community, no parking shed, and fear of being stolen.
Among the 11 communities randomly visited by the reporter, there are 5 communities that are equipped with charging piles, battery swap piles, parking sheds and other facilities that can provide electric bicycle parking and charging functions, and most of them have insufficient charging piles to satisfy the entire community. Demands, car owners’ non-acceptance of charging standards and other issues.
In a community in Hedong District, Tianjin, the reporter observed that a charging pile with 8 charging ports was set up not far from a unit building, and Mr. Wang, a resident, still chose to enter the building with a cart.
"The charging pile is full of cars and there is no place to charge it. Even if there is a place, I will not go. Last time I used my mobile phone to scan the code for charging. After a long time of operation, I didn't figure it out. The battery was not charged, and the money was charged. "Mr. Wang said.
In Kou Liping's view, some residents have no awareness of fire safety, or problems with their safety values. They chose convenience between safety and convenience.
However, the management of electric bicycles entering the building has been lightly implemented. There is no consensus on who should manage and how to manage it. It is impossible to achieve the prevention and control goal through propaganda and reporting.
She further introduced that in accident prevention, there is a "3E countermeasure system", which is to prevent accidents from three ways: engineering technology, safety education, and management system. Among them, the management system can have the most immediate effect.
However, if the problems of difficult parking and charging of electric bicycles are not solved, even if electric bicycle owners have fire safety awareness, it will not help.
Therefore, how to further strengthen the construction of hardware facilities, that is, the engineering and technical countermeasures in the "3E countermeasure system", is the fundamental way out to prevent accidents.
"In recent years, although many communities have installed self-service charging piles, the coverage of charging piles cannot meet the needs of residents. The lack of hardware facilities makes it a helpless choice for electric bicycles to enter buildings." Kou Liping said.
Urgent need to improve quality standards
Establish and improve supporting facilities
Is there a well-done community?
During the field visit, the reporter found that two of the 11 communities did a better job in solving the problem of parking electric bicycles.
One is Beijing Zhongguang Yijingwan Community.
The community built a parking shed outside the south gate to park bicycles and electric bicycles.
There are battery swapping posts in the parking shed to meet the charging needs of car owners.
There is no charge for carport parking.
According to a lady in the carport who is using a charging station, it costs almost 1 yuan each time the battery is fully charged.
At the same time, the community prohibits electric bicycles from entering.
According to the community security: “This arrangement has been around for some time. We have seen people stop riding electric bicycles, so there will be no problems with electric bicycles entering buildings.”
The other is Tianjin Linchili Community.
Several carports have been set up in this community.
Residents’ committee staff told reporters: “There are currently 6 parking spaces in the community, which are all built together with residential buildings. They were originally designed to facilitate residents to park their bicycles. Now electric bicycles have become the mainstream tool for residents’ travel. Parking sheds are mainly used for electric vehicles. Bicycle parking and charging problems. Among them, the parking shed near Building 15 can carry about 70 electric bicycles, and the car shed is at the entrance and exit of the community. Many residents can see it, making it convenient for everyone to park."
In addition to setting up parking sheds, the neighborhood committee of Linchili community also posted signs prohibiting electric bicycles from entering the corridor at the entrance of the corridor, and sent some cases of electric bicycle accidents through the residents' WeChat group, community communication and WeChat public account to inform residents of electric bicycles entering the building. harm.
In addition, the electric bicycles in the corridors of the community are cleaned regularly.
Although the reporter did not see the irregular parking of electric bicycles in the community during the field investigation, the staff of the Linchili Neighborhood Committee admitted: "There are still some electric bicycles entering the building and privately pulling the charging cable downstairs in the community."
In response to this phenomenon, the neighborhood committee said it would find one to persuade the other.
How to substantively solve the problem of electric bicycles entering the building?
A number of interviewed people and community residents’ committee staff suggested that targeted publicity and education should be increased to enable residents to truly understand the dangers of fires caused by electric bicycles, consciously abide by relevant regulations, and supervise and urge each other to form a prevention of electric bicycles. Fire, a community that prevents electric bicycles from entering buildings.
At the same time, relevant departments should set up reasonable areas for the charging and parking of electric bicycles when planning and constructing communities, and community neighborhood committees and properties should promptly open up reasonable places for use.
For behaviors such as the entry of electric bicycles into buildings and the private modification of electric bicycles, the relevant supervisory bodies shall be clarified and corrected and punished.
"Neighborhood committees should master the basic data of electric bicycles in their jurisdictions, make overall planning and construction of electric bicycle parking areas and charging facilities in their jurisdictions, publicize and mobilize community residents to correctly understand fires, and implement the responsibility of prohibiting electric bicycles from entering buildings; formulate targeted And implement the operability management system.” Kou Liping said that the property should implement the relevant regulations of electric bicycle management, carry out continuous and effective fire hazard investigation, establish a security team to prevent electric bicycle fires and prohibit electric bicycles from entering the building. In communities with complex conditions, barriers to entry for electric bicycles can be set up.
In Kou Liping's view, the relevant government departments urgently need to improve the quality standards of electric bicycles to essentially reduce the possibility of electric bicycles catching fire.
At the same time, fully regulate the use of electric bicycles from the links of purchase, charging, parking, etc., and implement relevant national regulations; include the improvement of electric bicycle parking and charging facilities in the category of grassroots governance to solve the worries of car owners.