Here is a reason why motorcycles are barred from most cities

[euphonius]

The pair sped up and escaped from a motorcycle cop, fleeing by Henan Road S. and then entering the Fuxing Road E. tunnel to get away. Zhang said they went to his home in Pudong. Police tracked Zhang through surveillance video and detained him at home on February 6. Jin turned himself in.

Shanghai probably has more surveillance cameras than any city on earth, more even than London, I've heard. Yes, this creeps me out in Big Brother terms, but, damn, three cheers for the cops for using these cameras to track these deadbeats to their homes. Imagine these assholes' surprise! (But why the suspended sentences?)

As for the motorcycle cop who gave chase, well, let's just hope that the police haven't been watching Eric Estrada re-runs and that China has the good sense NOT to enter into an arms and horsepower race with lawbreakers. Using surveillance cameras and good detective work, coupled with strong enforcement of plate laws, the police are far more likely to bird-dog fleeing criminals than by chasing them with cars, motorcycles and guns.

cheers

[Nuhaus]

Very confusing wording in that article. I wonder if they actually served any jail time at all? Hoping the "reprieve" was for time served while awaiting trial.

Prosecutors said the men once reached 108 kilometers per hour on Nanpu Bridge and 102 kph in the tunnel. The speed limit for both is 60 kph.

I'm thinking 108 x 2 might be closer to the truth.

[Graham]

Maybe people here who live in China can take a tally on how many motorcycle accidents they see in there city in a week/month ?

.
We seen our first motorbike accident some time in November last year.
That's in 3 years of being here.
Weifang has just topped 10,000,000 people, but no idea how many bikers.
500,000 maybe?

I am constantly amazed that we don't see several prangs every day, but we don't

Gra.

[lightend]

once again big drama out along Hongmei Road (near the bar / restaurant street) this morning, lot's of bike confiscated......

I spy a normal bicycle on the end.... i wonder what the rider violated to loose his bike????

[lightend]

in about 4 years I have seen maybe 6 or so bikes that have gone down.
there tends to be a car invoved turning right or pulling out into a bike lane withut looking.

I have seen way too many scooter doing stupid things that imm sure even though they are ellectric they should still require a liense to drive.

Back in aug las year i did a 3000km ride around zhejiang, anhui and a litte bit of jiangsu, by far themost hassle I had was with ebikes.

[euphonius]

I agree it's insane to allow ebikes and small scooters to travel unlicensed. It's simply not acceptable. They are just as lethal to their own riders, and to other riders and pedestrians, as many other motorized vehicles. Some of the ebikes are becoming quite heavy and substantial, so they move a lot of mass (think: projectile impact) as well as being able to travel at considerable speed. Yes, a lot of ebikes are ridden by grandmas and grandpas, who would maybe have difficulty passing some sort of driver safety course. But those very grandmas and grandpas often are deployed to ferry junior to school in the morning, and I shudder to think of what an accident might look like involving a child and a senior citizen. I bet it happens far more often than we know.

In Shanghai, I travel almost exclusively by bicycle, a Giant Khan that's probably a good 20kg all in, and I ride hard and fast. I have excellent brakes and would not ride without them in excellent repair. With the exception of running red lights when there is zero traffic (yes, a big and hypocritical caveat), I try my level best to ride within the law, always with the flow of traffic, always deferring to others and anticipating stupidity, always defensive and never cutting corners or taking unfair advantage. I've only hit one person, two years ago, and it was my fault, as I was going the wrong way and didn't have time to react when someone stepped out into my path. The guy said he was OK, but I think he was hurting that night.

Should I be licensed as an operator of a potentially lethal human-powered vehicle? A big part of me says, yes, or at least required to take some kind of ride safety course. That's a price I'd happily pay for the privilege of using a vehicle on the roads, as long as everyone is required to do the same.

Right now we have an inane situation where motorcycles are being banned, but equally dangerous ebikers and, yes, bicyclists, are left to ride with utter impunity. How about empowering the police to write citations for anyone, on any vehicle, licensed or not, who violates traffic law. Publish the laws/rules, announce some fines that would hurt and an enforcement date, then commence.

Dream on, right? Well, it's done this way in other countries. I've been cited for bicycling without lights at night in California, where it's the law.

cheers

[ZMC888]

Right now we have an inane situation where motorcycles are being banned, but equally dangerous ebikers and, yes, bicyclists, are left to ride with utter impunity. How about empowering the police to write citations for anyone, on any vehicle, licensed or not, who violates traffic law. Publish the laws/rules, announce some fines that would hurt and an enforcement date, then commence.

I'm sure you are aware after 20 years that the reason for this is to have things as easy as possible. Getting divorced? Split everything 50/50. Got a city? Cars only on the big roads, trucks? Complete ban. Buses, sometimes their own lane, sometimes practically on the sidewalk packed in with the two wheelers lest the holy car might get delayed. Two wheelers on the small side lanes, no fiddly exceptions. You can buy a Yamaha R1 legally 0-60 in in under 3 seconds, but ride it on the sidewalk with ebikes, no faster than 40km/h, is it even possible? You want different registration for that? Ride with the cars? No chance, you'll filter and get there quicker and make all the cagers jealous, can't be allowed.

China as I'm sure you are aware has a certain working mentality: "I don't get paid much and I work long hours so I don't need to work hard when I'm at work unless I'm bullied". This goes for the police to, I can't remember ever seeing a police officer outside of an office unless there was an obvious money making racket.

Should I be licensed as an operator of a potentially lethal human-powered vehicle? A big part of me says, yes, or at least required to take some kind of ride safety course. That's a price I'd happily pay for the privilege of using a vehicle on the roads, as long as everyone is required to do the same.

Are you serious? A freaking public safety course for cycling? Run by whom? A Chinese 'instructor'? Maybe you have highly skilled riders in Shanghai, but where I am there just are not people competent to teach driving cars adequately let alone ebiking or cycling. It would just degenerate into a Chinese hoop-jumping exam and money making racket in the first few minutes. I'm all for learning from instructors and extra training but they need to be substantially better than me and highly competent. Like Kenny Roberts or Chip Barber Race School etc.

[lightend]

ok zmc888 please give me you god like wisdom and share with me how you would fix the current problem.

howto get bikes, ebikes and othere electric contraptions to be less deadly.

[SabineHartmann]

There is no solution. TiC. Survival of the fittest.

[ZMC888]

ok zmc888 please give me you god like wisdom and share with me how you would fix the current problem.

howto get bikes, ebikes and othere electric contraptions to be less deadly.

Actually is there are problem? Really it's not jealousy? Shoot down ebikes because they don't pay the same taxes, licensing and insurance as you? Level up the playing field a bit, eh? Sounds like a Chinese car driver mentality to me, thought that someone who liked two wheels would be above that attitude. I don't see ebikes hurting other people that often unless the roads have been set out to poorly, I do see them injuring themselves quite often, but it's your risk as an adult.

Let's wrap China even more in red tape than ever, is that your solution? The tests China has already are corrupted hoop-jumping exercises in which people memorise that the answer to 'question 345 is 'C', they don't even memorize the text, so learn nothing. Or worse buy their way through, and an ebike license would be a low rung on the ladder so I imagine you could just buy a license for about 2000 yuan, if anyone even bothered. The thing is maybe if this was a western country it would be more workable but having a test in China for ebikes is nasty and for bicycles just fascist. In the west there would at least be a fact finding committee to figure out the best way forward, if that meant an exam or some other way, it would probably be done well. However calling for this in China is suicidal, because it is not a country like that. You are very likely to find some government guy's opinion of what is good riding built into the test, built on nothing but his opinion, and absent of any professional input, which could make the whole thing ridiculous or painful.

Why are good riders good riders? Simple answer: Passion. Because they love bikes of all forms and get better at riding them, they watch videos, read books, get more instruction and training voluntarily. Administering your way out of incompetent riding using government just shackles people way too much, how old do my children need to be to ride their bike on the street? That decision is no longer mine as is their training?

The people who suck at riding?
-The inexperienced (AKA 'noobs').
-The people who use them strictly as transport and have zero passion for them.

How to fix the problem: Education and cultural change, starts in school. Just having one or two P.E. sessions learning how to track stand a bicycle and some road theory in class at school would be a start.