Time to regulate lethal low-speed electric vehicles

Low-speed electric vehicles have become increasingly popular, but in the event of an accident they not only harm others, they also harm the occupants, because although they have a similar weight to other cars and can travel at a reasonable speed, they do not have the same safety features as traditional cars. Data show that such low-speed electric vehicles have been involved in over 830,000 accidents that left 18,000 dead and 186,000 injured in the past five years. Thepaper.cn comments:

These low-speed electric vehicles look almost the same as any other car: They have four wheels, four doors, electric-controlled windows, air conditioning, even radios. And being electric, they can sometimes even accelerate faster than a car.

However, there are a number of big differences. The drivers of these vehicles usually have no license, no insurance and no number plate. So if they are involved in an accident and the driver flees, not only will there be no insurance paid out, the police might not be able to find him or her, because there is no registered license plate number.

The popularity of such electric vehicles has much to do with their so-called convenience. Without a registered license plate number, their drivers can break the traffic rules without fear of punishment.

But that "convenience" comes at the cost of the safety of other road users. While the number of traffic accidents is on a downward trend, the number involving such vehicles is rising. Therefore, these vehicles must be regulated.

According to recently released national standards for e-bikes, their weight should not exceed 55 kilograms and they should have a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour, and they should also have fire-prevention and battery charging protection devices. That is the direction for safety.

It must be clear whether these low-speed electric cars are a motor vehicle or not. If they are nonmotorized vehicles, then they must be treated as such. If they are classified as motor vehicles, they should be directly managed according to the standards for motor vehicles.