"Zombie Car": How to Treat Alternative Urban Waste
Experts say improving legislation to make governance law-based is the key
● There are a large number of "zombie cars" in reality, and their negative effects cannot be ignored: on the one hand, they occupy public resources and exacerbate the problem of urban parking; Affect the passage of fire and ambulance vehicles, etc.
● The definition of "zombie car" is unclear, lack of clear legal definition, it is difficult to contact the owner or manager, and it is difficult to communicate with the owner, which makes it difficult to manage such cars in practice.
● Experts suggest improving legislation to solve the problem of identification of "zombie cars" from the legislative level, including identification basis, procedure, subject (competent unit), etc.; at the same time, improve the vehicle scrapping system and strengthen the responsibility of car owners; ” role, do a good job in the daily management of vehicles, and manage the “zombie car” in a linked manner
□ Sun Tianjiao, a trainee reporter of this newspaper
□ Our reporter Chen Lei
For more than half a year, Beijing resident Liu Rushi has seen a red car every day near a bus stop on the only road to and from get off work.
The car's body was covered in dust and rust.
"This kind of car seems to be an alternative garbage in a city. It not only occupies public resources for a long time, but also affects the appearance of the city. Why is there no one in charge of it?" Liu Rushi did not understand.
This kind of vehicle that has been parked in a certain location for a long time, the owner is hard to find and no one cares about, has an image called "zombie car".
The "Rule of Law Daily" reporter recently randomly visited more than 10 streets and communities in Xicheng District, Chaoyang District, Tongzhou District and other places in Beijing and found that "zombie cars" are not uncommon. of dust and looks completely unusable.
Many law enforcement officers and experts interviewed by reporters pointed out that the unclear definition of "zombie car" and the difficulty of communicating with car owners have made it difficult to manage such cars in practice.
In the future, it is necessary to improve legislation, so that the actual governance of "zombie cars" has a legal basis, and through the linkage of traffic police, urban management, communities and other parties, governance according to law; in addition, the management of vehicle registration and scrapping should be strengthened, and the responsibility of car owners should be strengthened to prevent scrapping. Vehicles become "zombie cars".
"Zombie cars" are common
Crowding parking spaces affects the appearance of the city
Recently, the reporter came to the bus stop mentioned by Liu Rushi, and found a red car parked on the back of the platform. The body was covered with dust. The wipers and doors were damaged to varying degrees. Some snow piles up in front of the wheels.
The reporter saw at the scene that not only this "zombie car" was parked on this road, but at least 3 cars in a row were in a state of dilapidated appearance and no use for a long time.
On one of the silver cars, there was also a red advertisement paper that read "used cars at high prices", and the paper was damaged in many places over time.
There is also a white van with slack wheels, and through the mottled windows it can be seen that the seats and other facilities have been emptied.
These unattended "zombie cars" have appeared all over the country.
Some "occupy" the already tight parking spaces, and some even become "living places" for homeless people.
Xiao Yan, a Chongqing citizen, is in the second-hand car business. He once rented a parking lot in the urban area of Chongqing and found a black car parked in the middle of the lot.
Xiao Yan got in touch with the owner, hoping to buy the car from the owner.
After the owner brought the key, Xiao Yan found out that the engine of the car exploded and the gearbox had to be repaired. The total repair cost exceeded the value of the vehicle, so he finally gave up the acquisition, and the owner was unwilling to cooperate and drive the car away.
Due to the impact of subsequent parking, Xiao Yansui contacted the relevant departments.
"When the law enforcement arrived at the scene, they found that the car had not yet reached the mandatory scrapping standard at the time, so it was not qualified for forced execution and could only be parked here. I had to tow the car to a corner." Xiao Yan said.
After that, strange things happened.
When nearby residents passed the "zombie car", they found someone in the car and thought it was stolen, so they had a physical conflict with the other party.
Later, I learned from the police that the other party was a homeless person nearby and regarded the "zombie car" as his place of residence.
After the police took the homeless away, Xiao Yan and others didn't care about it anymore.
Until the second half of 2021, Xiao Yan accidentally opened the door of the car and found that there were traces of people living in it, as well as clothes, shoes, mirrors and other items that had not been seen before.
On the back of the right front seat, the words "self-help" were also written with a ballpoint pen.
After paying attention, Xiao Yan often went to check the situation in the car during the day. Although he had never seen anyone, the items in the car were constantly changing.
"I really didn't expect that a 'zombie car' could have such a bizarre story. It's been a few years now, and this car must have reached the mandatory scrapping standard, but I think it's too troublesome, and I'm afraid the owner will come to us when the time comes. I wanted a car, so I didn’t contact the law enforcement officers again. I thought that the car was useless anyway, so why not leave it to the homeless.” Xiao Yan said.
The negative effects of the large number of "zombie cars" in reality cannot be ignored.
Huang Haibo, director of the Traffic Management and Transportation Law Professional Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, believes that on the one hand, "zombie cars" occupy the already tense public resources of the society, aggravate the problem of urban parking difficulties, and cause waste of social public resources; on the other hand, there is a safety problem. Hidden dangers, such as the degradation of old vehicles will affect the environment, parked on the roads of the community may affect the passage of residents, and may also affect the passage of firefighting and ambulance vehicles.
Legal definitions are not clear
Realistic governance remains difficult
In fact, in recent years, some places have paid attention to the problem of "zombie cars" in cities and launched special clean-up activities. However, "zombie cars" are still common in streets and alleys. What is the reason behind it?
According to Huang Haibo's analysis, there are many reasons for the formation of "zombie cars": for example, when the vehicle reaches the end of life, the owner is unwilling to scrap it or fails to scrap it in time for other reasons; for example, after the vehicle is stolen and robbed, the criminals arbitrarily dispose of the car. Abandoned, the original owner does not know the whereabouts of the vehicle, and cannot effectively manage or scrap the vehicle; if the vehicle owner disappears or dies, the vehicle has been forgotten for a long time; if some vehicles have not been transferred due to the transfer, the owner of the purchased vehicle is too troublesome and unwilling to take it away. Scrapped vehicles are scrapped, etc.
Sun Xiaotong, head of the News and Publicity Section of the Public Security Traffic Management Bureau of Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, found that a large proportion of the "zombie cars" meet the mandatory scrapping standards.
According to Chinese laws, there is no limit to the service life of a private car, but if many vehicles fail the trial for three consecutive years, they should be forced to be scrapped.
However, the amount returned for mandatory scrapping is relatively low, and the amount returned for scrapping a vehicle may not be able to cover the cost of hauling the vehicle to the scrapping company.
On the other hand, if a vehicle that needs to be scrapped forcibly is not scrapped, it will have no impact on the subsequent purchase of a new car.
This may be an important reason why a large number of vehicles that meet the mandatory scrapping standards become "zombie cars".
In fact, not all "zombie cars" can be cleaned up by relevant departments.
According to Sun Xiaotong, there is currently no official definition of "zombie car". The so-called "zombie car" is actually just an abstract concept.
The uncertainty of definition leads to the need to classify and discuss "zombie cars" in practice.
"Some 'zombie cars' are illegally parked. In this case, the traffic police can directly enforce the law. Other 'zombie cars' are parked in the parking line, and some are even paying parking fees, but they have not used the vehicles. In this case, there is no penalty standard and no penalty basis."
Taking vehicles that meet the mandatory scrapping standards as an example, Sun Xiaotong said that the Road Traffic Safety Law, the "Regulations on the Mandatory Scrapping Standards for Motor Vehicles" and the "Administrative Measures for the Recycling of Scrap Vehicles" and other relevant laws and regulations only stipulate that motor vehicles that meet the scrapping standards are not allowed to go on the road. However, there are no corresponding regulations on whether its parking is legal and compliant, which also leads law enforcement officers to be helpless in the face of a large number of vehicles that do not illegally park but do exist that meet the scrapping standard.
Therefore, the current law enforcement basis for "zombie cars" on the road is still illegal parking.
In November 2021, the Guiyang Public Security Traffic Management Bureau launched a special campaign to clear the warehouse of "zombie cars" in Guiyang, Guiyang, which lasted for more than a month.
During the event, more than 200 "zombie cars" were cleaned up, which played a positive role in maintaining traffic road safety and urban congestion control.
Sun Xiaotong told reporters that the previous work of the traffic control department where he works is to clean up the illegal parking situation, and to contact the car owner to inform him first. Suspension will be punished accordingly.
If you can't get in touch, you can only temporarily drag the "zombie car" to a special venue for centralized storage.
However, a series of problems may arise after centralized storage.
Sun Xiaotong said that centralized custody will incur costs, and this cost can only be borne by the traffic control department at this stage.
In addition, because the owner cannot be contacted, the storage time is uncertain. If the vehicle is naturally lost due to the long parking time, and the owner comes to ask for the vehicle at this time, the law enforcement officers may be in a "dilemma" and may even face compensation issues. .
According to Wang Congwei, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, there are two difficulties in managing "zombie cars": First, it is difficult to contact the owner or manager.
The address, phone number and other information of the "zombie car" vehicle in the traffic control department are generally reserved by the owner when purchasing the car, but the owner's information may change.
The second is limited by the procedures and costs of dealing with "zombie cars". For example, some vehicles have changed hands several times, and it is no longer possible to prove the ownership relationship between the vehicle and the actual owner, which makes it impossible to deal with it through normal procedures.
Huang Haibo believes that vehicles belong to citizens' private property, and there is a certain conflict between the disposal of "zombie cars" and the protection of citizens' private property rights, and the boundary between the two is not easy to grasp.
Improper disposal may damage citizens' private property rights, making it difficult for law enforcement to carry out clean-up activities.
Improve legislation and strengthen recognition
Multi-measures and joint governance
In response to the problem of "zombie car" governance, some localities have issued more detailed policy documents.
On January 13 this year, Liuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region passed the Motor Vehicle Parking Regulations, stipulating the disposal of abandoned motor vehicles: parking in public parking lots, special parking lots, and public places other than road parking spaces (such as squares, road open spaces, etc.) , green space, etc.), the traffic management department of the public security organ will drag the "zombie car" to the designated parking place as an illegally parked vehicle for parking, and then deal with it according to the regulations.
For "zombie cars" parked in residential areas, property service providers and owners' committees should discourage them.
If the dissuasion is ineffective, it may be reported to the relevant departments to attend the scene and deal with it according to law.
The "Regulations on Road Traffic Safety Regulations of Guiyang City", which came into effect on January 1 this year, stipulates that if the occupation of squares, public parking lots, and roads in residential quarters to park abandoned vehicles affects the passage of vehicles and pedestrians, the relevant business management units shall notify the vehicle owners. , the administrator or user shall deal with it in a timely manner, and if it is not dealt with or cannot be contacted, it shall be reported to the public security transportation department in a timely manner.
The public security traffic department may tow the vehicle to a location that does not obstruct traffic, and notify the owner, manager or user of the vehicle to handle it within a time limit.
The law enforcement officers and experts interviewed offered several recommendations for better governance of the "zombie car" problem in the future.
Wang Congwei believes that, first of all, legislation should be improved so that there is a legal basis for the handling of "zombie cars".
The "zombie car" still belongs to the "thing" in the civil law, and the property rights of its obligee are equally protected by the law, and no organization or individual may infringe upon it.
However, if the existence of "zombie cars" affects social and public interests to some extent and has certain hidden safety hazards, then it should be governed by law.
She mentioned that several issues need to be resolved at the legislative level. First, how to identify a "zombie car", including the basis for identification, procedures, and the subject (competent unit) identified.
For example, illegal parking, parking in a parking space or public space for more than 60 days, after contacting the owner to expressly give up or unable to contact the owner within a certain period of time, can be identified as a "zombie car"; the second is to identify subsequent processing procedures, such as The identified "zombie car" needs to contact the owner, user, or manager to notify them to dispose of it on their own. Thirdly, for the "zombie car" that cannot be contacted with the owner or manager, it can be temporarily towed away and stored in a designated place. It can be scrapped on the premise of registration.
In the second and third cases, a contact mechanism can be established with a notary institution, and the process of notifying the right holder and taking processing measures can be recorded by notarization, so that the legality of the processing procedure can be proved in the event of a dispute.
Sun Xiaotong suggested to further improve the vehicle scrapping system, "If the vehicle reaches the scrapping standard, but neither scraps nor drives on the road, whether this 'zombie car' is illegal, whether the owner needs to bear the corresponding legal responsibility, whether the traffic police and other relevant departments can The legal responsibility for recycling such vehicles should be clearly defined.”
Wang Congwei also suggested to play the role of "proximity" between property and community.
For the "zombie cars" parked in the community, the property management company can do a good job of daily management, contact the owners of the abnormally parked vehicles in time to understand the situation, and propose solutions at the same time.
In addition, the community neighborhood committee can be invited to intervene to help solve the actual difficulties behind the parking of the "zombie car", and the "zombie car" can be managed in a linked manner.
"Propaganda is in place, and everyone rules." Wang Congwei said that the role of the law is to set points and stop disputes, and it is also the lowest moral bottom line. More, we must do a good job of publicity work, so that everyone can abide by the laws and social ethics, reduce the Man-made "zombie cars" urge owners of vehicles that meet the mandatory scrapping standards to voluntarily scrap them, and jointly create a harmonious living environment.
(Liu Rushi and Xiao Yan in the article are all pseudonyms)