Modified bicycles, scooters and segways have been growing in popularity in China as a way to beat traffic jams.
由于受交通阻塞的困扰,改装自行车、摩托车和踏板车等在中国日益受到人们的追捧。
However, many do not have proper brakes or lights, and can exceed speed limits.
但是,许多车辆都没有良好的刹车和照明,并且经常超过限速。
Electric scooters and segways are supposed to have a maximum speed of 20km/h, but the Beijing Consumers’ Association found that most of them are able to exceed that.
China’s third-largest city Guangzhou is also reportedly considering a ban on electric scooters.
中国第三大城市广州据报道也在考虑禁止电动摩托车。
There are no national safety standards for such vehicles, which do not fall in the category of either motor vehicles or non-motorised ones according to Chinese law.
中国没有颁布对这些车辆的国家安全标准。根据中国的法律,这些车辆既不属于机动车,也不是非机动车。
Though the ban on stand-up electric scooters is now in place in Beijing and Shanghai, you can still see plenty of them on the streets.
虽然目前北京、上海已经对日益壮大的电动摩托车实行了禁令,但是在街上还是有许多这样的车辆。
There are only three possibilities: people are not yet aware of the new rule changes, some have decided to risk being busted or riders will simply pay the small fine if they get caught.
If you talk to the mostly young people who own and love these scooters, they say they’re cheap, convenient and easy to recharge. They also say that the problem instead lies with the sea of cars clogging up China’s major cities every day.
The government response is that this may be the case, but it doesn’t make the scooters any safer.
政府回应说,虽然可能只是个案,但是摩托车并不安全。
People - using all manner of vehicles - can been seen doing crazy, dangerous things every day on China’s roads, so when cool kids were seen standing up on their electric scooters and whizzing through traffic, nobody thought it was in the slightest bit strange.