Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

AT around 10 a.m. yesterday, an e-bike rider surnamed Wang was intercepted by police at the intersection of Shennan Road East and Dongmen Road South for driving in a restricted area.

Wang faced three choices, either put on a green vest and take a whistle to help guide pedestrians, or take a pen and sit down in a nearby shade shed to write down a 1,000-word traffic regulation in 30 minutes. The third choice was to pay a 2,000 yuan (US$303) fine and have his e-bike impounded.

As this was Wang’s first offense, and the violation was so minor, he received a lenient punishment.

“Compared with the other two punishments, copying a regulation is rather gentle and preferred,” said Wang, who hadn’t used a pen to write since graduation. In 30 minutes, Wang completed copying the regulation and signed his name.

In less than an hour at the intersection, seven violators chose the punishment, in this the first time it was offered by traffic police in a move to improve the civility of local people.

“Shenzhen will organize a unified action every Wednesday targeting e-bike violations, such as using motorist lanes, going against red lights and carrying passengers. For some serious violations, the punishment will be severe. But for some minor violations, the punishments will be lenient,” said Chen Yun with the police e-bike control office.

The city has reported 348 e-bike and motorbike-related accidents leading to 57 deaths and 406 injuries so far this year, and police have checked 114,878 violations made by e-bike and motorbike riders, accounting for 39.43 percent of the total violations of non-motorized vehicles.