E-BIKE and bike riders have been held fully responsible in three separate traffic accidents that happened around the Qingming Festival holiday since they were violating traffic rules, according to traffic police authority.

    In the three accidents, the bikers and e-bikers were either riding in vehicle lanes or going against red traffic lights, the city’s traffic police said on its to official microblog.

    The three accidents all happened in Guangming New Area.

    On Sunday night, the first day of the three-day Qingming Festival holiday, a woman surnamed Zhang, 35, was riding her bicycle in a vehicle lane when she collided with a car near Zhongtai Industrial Park on Gongchang Road in Guangming New Area. Zhang died early the next morning after medical treatment failed.

    An investigation showed that Zhang hadn’t been riding her bicycle on the correct side of the road, which has a nonmotorized lane. The case is still under investigation.

    At 10:25 a.m. the same day, a man surnamed Lin, 63, who was riding an e-bike, was killed by a car near Shiyan Lake Bus Stop in Yutang Subdistrict. Lin died at the hospital. An investigation showed that Lin had been riding an e-bike in a motorized lane and should take full responsibility for the accident.

    On Saturday, another electric bike rider, surnamed Liu, 39, was killed in a crash with a bus on Songbai Road. A police investigation showed that Liu caused the accident by riding his e-bike against a red light.

    According to Shenzhen’s traffic police, Shenzhen reported 549 accidents involving pedestrians and nonmotorized vehicles that resulted in 238 deaths and 497 injuries in 2016. Deaths in accidents involving pedestrians and nonmotorized vehicles were reduced by 35 percent compared to the previous year.

    Bao’an, Longgang and Longhua were the top three districts with 56, 53 and 28 deaths, respectively, in 2016. These accidents were mainly caused by pedestrians’ lack of safety awareness and the illegal use of motor lanes by nonmotorized vehicles, such as e-bikes and tricycles. Most of the accidents occurred between 6 and 7 a.m. or between 9 and 10 p.m.

    The city’s traffic police initiated a citywide action against violations by pedestrians and nonmotorized vehicles last month. In 2016, police checked a total of 348,400 violations related to pedestrians and nonmotorized vehicles, or around 30,000 a month.

    (Han Ximin)