E-donkeys

[Randy W]

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I'm glad to see this. I did an informal survey a few months ago - about 90 percent of the motorcycles here were unregistered electric powered scooters. Many of them run red lights and otherwise drive recklessly, although they're usually smart enough to stay out of the way.

'Kingdom of bicycles' in the electric age
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/8373201.html

A new regulation in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region requiring electric bicycles be registered for a license plate has aroused controversy. Henceforth, all electric bicycles must be registered with the police, and all new purchases must meet national standards, with limits on weight and speed, or be banned from public roads.

In Guangxi, the so-called "e-donkeys" are widely used means and have caused more and more accidents.

In the four years since 2009, there have been over 1,800 traffic accidents involving electric bicycles, with 538 deaths and over 2,000 injuries.

. . .

The national standard for such bikes was set in 1999 and now more than 90 percent of the bikes on the market fail to meet it, breaking the traffic rules by speeding and overloading.

A significant number of traffic accidents in China are caused by e-donkeys and the riders are usually untraceable by current law.

In Nanning, capital of Guangxi, the number of electric bicycles amounts to about 800,000. They have been involved in about 30 percent of the city' s traffic accidents.

[Mick]

Wow - 800,000 is a lot of e-donkeys! I recall seeing more than a few of them around Shantou when we lived there. However, as time progressed it seemed the number dwindled a good bit. Perhaps this was due to Shantou being a Special Economic Zone and becoming more prosperous. It always amazed me how much cargo folks could get on one of those things...

[NickF]

In Nanning there are a bunch of them. And you can't hear them coming, either.

[Randy W]

If you put your hands on your hips while walking downtown (here in Yulin), your elbows will usually catch a few mirrors.