WHILE the emergence of app-based bikes is bringing convenience to people who prefer riding to walking short distances, it has also produced more traffic accidents when the riders do not obey traffic rules.

A woman in her late 60s, identified as Liu, was killed while riding an app-based bike on Binhai Boulevard, a main road in the city that connects Luohu, Futian and Nanshan districts, on Thursday.

Liu was attempting to cross the vehicle lanes on the Nanshan section of the boulevard. She failed to pay attention to the passing cars, was hit by a sedan and died instantly.

The boulevard is categorized as a trunk road. The section where the accident occurred was undergoing road work, so the right lane was blocked and the speed limit was 50 kilometers per hour. The investigation found it was drizzling when the accident took place, but visibility was within 200 meters.

Shenzhen traffic police reported that since the beginning of the year, there had been a total of 1,180 road accidents by July 31, with 191 fatalities and 744 injuries. Compared to the same period last year, the number of accidents increased by 63.43 percent, however the death toll decreased by 50.

There were 117 accidents involving bikes (including app-based bikes). A total of 32 people died from those accidents and 97 were injured. Compared to a year earlier, there were 49 more traffic accidents and 43 more people killed. The number of deaths increased by 79.63 percent.

In addition, 26 accidents were associated with the use of app-based bikes, with 11 fatalities and 16 injuries.

Gao Hao, deputy chief of the parking management section of Shenzhen’s traffic police bureau, said that in a bid to enhance work to deal with road accidents involving app-based bikes, the bureau set up a cooperative mechanism with app-based bike firms in Shenzhen.

Gao said the firms had already set up special groups to deal with road accidents and those groups were responsible for cooperating with the traffic police.

For instance, the special groups from the companies will report information about their bikes and riders that are involved in accidents as well as the routes the bikes took within 30 minutes of receiving a notice from the traffic police.

When severe road accidents take place, the special groups should dispatch personnel to the scene immediately to cooperate with the police investigation.

The traffic police also reminded bike riders to strictly obey traffic rules when using app-based bikes, and especially not to ride in vehicle lanes on expressways and main roads.

Another tragedy occurred Saturday. A man’s body was found at around 10:40 p.m. in a vehicle lane on Jihe Expressway in the direction of Guangming New Area, 100 meters away from the tollgate that connects with Longda Expressway.

Scratches were found on the man’s body. It was suspected that the scratches were made by passing vehicles after the man fell into the vehicle lane from a bridge above. The police are still investigating the case.

(Zhang Qian)