电动自行车成为马路杀手

电动自行车成为马路杀手

Bundled against the cold beneath a highway overpass on a busy Beijing intersection, traffic warden Zhao Delong waved his colored flag in frustration at the new silent killer stalking city streets.

隆冬时节的北京，在一处立交桥下繁忙的路口旁，穿得严严实实的交通协管员赵德龙（音）正徒劳无功地挥舞着手中的彩旗，试图让电动自行车这种新型马路杀手在路上行驶得规矩些。

'Those electric bikes just don't listen! The problem is they go too fast. They can't stop like bikes. I saw an accident just over there the other day where someone on an e-bike rushed through the intersection and plowed over someone on a regular bike,' Mr. Zhao said as he tried to keep China's newest road hazard in check.

赵德龙说，这些电动自行车根本不听管！问题是他们的速度太快了，没法向普通自行车那样说停就停。我前几天还看到那边发生了一起事故，一辆电动自行车冲出路口，挂倒了一辆普通自行车。赵德龙一边说，还在一边试着努力控制电动自行车这一新型交通危险因素。

Powerful battery-powered bicycles are crowding out their push-pedal brethren, delivering a jolt to the Bicycle Kingdom.

拥有电池强劲驱动的电动自行车正在将普通脚踏自行车挤出市场，改变了整个自行车王国的格局。

By some estimates there are 120 million e-bikes on China's roads-up from just 50,000 a decade ago, making it the fastest growing form of transportation in China. Cities at first embraced them as a quieter and cleaner alternative to gasoline-powered scooters.

据估算，十年前中国仅有5万辆电动自行车，现在则激增到了1.2亿辆，它已成为了中国增长最快的交通工具类型。中国的城市最初之所以接受电动自行车，是因为它既安静又清洁，可以用作燃气驱动型轻便摩托车的替代品。

Officials were caught off guard when that environmentally appealing solution turned out to be deadly on the streets. In 2007, there were 2,469 deaths from electric-bicycle accidents nationwide, up from just 34 in 2001, according to government statistics.

中国政府官员显然没有料想到这种环保车辆最终会演变成马路杀手。官方统计数据显示，2007年电动自行车事故造成2469人死亡，远远高于2001年时的34人。

That's roughly 3% of China's annual 90,000 traffic accident deaths. Still technically bicycles, they're operating in a legal gray zone. Drivers of electric bikes don't need to pass stringent driving tests to get licensed, and courts are struggling to sort out lawsuits.

这一数据在中国当年9万交通事故死亡总人数中约占3%。虽然电动自行车从技术上来讲仍属于自行车，但它们却处于法律监管的灰色地带。驾驶电动自行车无需通过严格的驾照考试，同时法庭也在努力对相关肇事者进行惩罚。 Pedestrians complain that e-bike riders pay little heed to the rules of the road. Drivers of electric bikes are 'totally devoid of conscience and respect for the law,' complained Wang Mingyue, a blogger on the popular Beijing News Web site.

路上的行人抱怨骑电动自行车的人无视交通法规。《新京报》博主王明月撰文谴责道，电动自行车驾驶员完全是“无法无天”。

China's e-bike industry started under the planned economy of the Maoist 1960s. Primitive battery and engine technology doomed early efforts. After China liberalized its economy in the 1980s, a handful of entrepreneurs tried to revive e-bikes just as city planners were casting a worried eye on the explosive growth of exhaust-spewing mopeds and scooters. By the 1990s, cities were starting to ban motor scooters, creating an opening for electric bicycles. Electric bikes had government backing: inclusion as one of 10 key scientific-development priority projects in the Ninth Five-Year Plan. They had the personal endorsement of former Premier Li Peng, according to an academic paper on the history of e-bikes in China by Jonathan Weinert, Ma Chaktan and Chris Cherry. 中国的电动自行车产业可以追溯至上世纪60年代的计划经济时代。粗糙的电池和引擎技术导致了最初的努力以失败收场。在上世纪80年代中国经济开放之后，一些企业家努力让电动自行车产业实现复苏，正值城市规划者对高污染的机动脚踏车和轻便摩托车的爆炸性增长感到了担忧。到了上世纪90年代，中国城市开始限制摩托车，为电动自行车的登场创造了条件。这一行业的发展曾经得到政府扶持：在中国的“九五”计划期间，电动自行车曾经在十大优先发展的关键科学项目中占有一席之地。由威纳特(Jonathan Weinert)、马泽丹(Ma Chaktan)和查瑞(Chris Cherry)联合撰写的、讲述中国电动自行车发展历史的论文透露，中国前总理李鹏还对该行业的发展表示了个人的支持。

By 1998, regulators realized they had to limit the speed and size of e-bikes, too. The rules were loosely enforced and left a loophole. If it's got a pedal, it's a bicycle. The original standards put the maximum speed of an electric bike at 20 kilometers per hour (a little more than 12 mph). But e-bikes' power soon outpaced that. Some are capable of 25 mph or more.

到1998年时，监管部门也意识到了他们必须限制电动自行车的速度和大小。可是当时的规定执行乏力并且存在漏洞。如果车辆装有脚踏板，那么它就算是自行车。最初，电动自行车的速度上限是每小时20公里（约合每小时12英里）。但是电动自行车的马力很快就超过了这一规定，有的车辆时速能达到每小时40公里（约合每小时25英里），甚至更快。

The market grew slowly at first. That changed after China was hit by severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2003. National e-bike sales jumped from 1.5 million in 2002 to 4 million in 2003 as commuters sought an alternative to crowded public transport, where germs spread quickly. 电动自行车的市场发展一开始有所放缓。但在中国2003年爆发了严重的非典(SARS)疫情后，情况出现了改变。2003年中国的电动自行车总销量从上年的150万辆激增至400万辆，因为人们试图在病菌传播迅速的公交系统之外给自己找到其他代步工具。

Electric-bike fatalities rose, too. In 2003, 87 people were killed in e-bike accidents. A year later, 589 died.

电动自行车造成的重大交通事故也在增多。2003年87人因为电动自行车事故死于非命，第二年，这一人数就猛增至589人。

The deaths led to a backlash. Beijing and Fuzhou banned electric bikes in 2002. Beijing lifted its ban in 2006.

这些死亡事件引发了对电动自行车的反对声音。北京和福州在2002年禁止了电动自行车。北京于2006年又取消了禁令。

More cities decided they'd had enough. The northeast industrial town of Shenyang banned e-bikes in 2009 after their numbers spiked in the wake of a motorcycle ban.

有更多城市认为它们已经无法容忍电动自行车。东北工业城市沈阳在2009年禁止了电动自行车，此前该市的电动自行车数量在摩托车被禁后出现了大幅增长。

Over the summer, Changsha city traffic police set up checkpoints and handed out 60,000 tickets in five days for e-bikes that violated weight and speed restrictions, or didn't have proper registration.

去年夏天，长沙市的交通警察设立了一系列电动自行车检查点，并在五天时间内给电动自行车开出了60,000张罚单，被罚车或是违反了载重和车速方面的限制，或是没有按有关规定登记。

In Zhejiang province, Hangzhou banned out-of-town e-bikes; in Wenzhou, police confiscated 5,000 electric bikes in half a month for being too fast and large.

在浙江省，杭州市禁止外地牌照的电动自行车上路；温州市警方在半个月时间内没收了5,000辆电动自行车，这些车被没收的原因是速度太快或体积太大。 Riders like Yu Dejiang were caught in the legal crossfire. Mr Yu, a 30-year-old air-conditioner repairman in Wenzhou, splurged this summer and spent half a month's salary on a new electric scooter to replace a secondhand one that got stolen. Two weeks later, police dusted off old regulations on the books, confiscated his bike and fined him 700 yuan-about $100.

像余德江(音)这样骑电动自行车的人就因为法规变动而遭了殃。现年30岁的他是温州一名空调修理工，他去年夏天花半个月的工资买了一辆新电动自行车，以取代那辆被偷的二手电动自行车。两周后，警方又开始重新禁止电动自行车上路，他的电动车被没收，还被罚款人民币700元。

'The e-bike is a necessity for my work. The fastest and cheapest traffic vehicle I can afford. It's the same for most riders here. I can finish my work on the bike. There are no buses in many places and I can't afford to buy a car. What do you expect me to do?' said Mr. Yu. A few weeks later, he was back on the streets with another electric bike, looking over his shoulder in case city authorities crack down again.

余德江说，他的工作离不开电动自行车，这是他能负担的最快捷也最廉价的交通工具，对温州大多数骑车者来说同样如此。他说，自己能靠电动自行车完成工作，许多地方都不通公共汽车，而自己又买不起汽车，还能怎么办？几周后，余德江又骑着另一辆电动自行车上路了。现在他骑车时不时要回头张望一下，以防相关部门再次没收他的车。

But there's another problem. E-bikes may not be so clean after all. Because 95% of China's e-bikes use lead batteries, they emit more lead into the atmosphere than other forms of transportation, according to some studies. They also rely on electricity that's mostly made by coal-burning power plants.

但也存在另外一个问题。电动自行车可能并非那么清洁。由于中国95%的电动自行车使用铅电池，一些研究结果显示，电动自行车向大气中排放的铅要高于其他类型的交通工具。电动自行车顾名思义要用电，而中国的电大多数来自燃煤发电厂。

Then suddenly, in December, the central government dropped a

bombshell: tough new nationwide restrictions. There was heated debate. Sales at Luyuan Group, one of China's biggest e-bike makers, dropped 50% in December from November.

中央政府去年12月突然丢下一枚重磅炸弹：对电动自行车采取了新的全国性严厉限制措施。此举在社会上引发了激烈争论。中国最大电动自行车生产商之一绿源集团(Luyuan Group)去年12月份的电动自行车销量比前月下降了50%。 'Officials are getting the statistics wrong, they're not looking at them scientifically,' said Ni Jie, Luyuan's founder. A former economics professor and electrical engineer, Mr. Ni has given his wife the company reins so he can focus more on industry lobbying. He argues electric bicycles are safer than bicycles or motorcycles and will soon start using cleaner, lithium batteries.

绿源集团创办人倪捷说，官员们误解了统计数据，他们没有科学地看待这些数据。曾担任经济学教授和电子工程师的倪捷已经将公司的管理权交给了妻子，以便自己能将更多精力放在行业游说上。他声称，电动自行车比普通自行车或摩托车都要安全，而且不久就将开始使用更清洁的锂电池。

After intense public outcry in the media, the government backed down just weeks later. 'In essence, a lack of respect for public opinion and for the reasonable and scientific decision-making process was to blame,' for the government's behavior, said an opinion piece in China Daily, the state-backed English language newspaper.

在媒体密集报导公众对政府这一决定的不同意见后，政府放弃了出台仅几周的这项决定。官方英文报纸《中国日报》(China Daily)的一则评论说，事实上，缺乏对公众意见以及合理、科学决策程序的尊重是政府出台这一政策的问题所在。 Now, the industry associations are trying to figure out new guidelines before the central government steps back in. In the meantime, people are back in the shops.

现在，电动自行车的行业组织正赶在政府再度插手之前努力制定出新的行业指导原则。与此同时，人们也开始重新购买电动自行车。

He Chenyan, a 23-year-old telecommunications engineer, offered this advice as he tested out different electric bikes in Hangzhou. 'These limits don't matter,' he said. 'The traffic police won't bother with us. They'll focus on real motor vehicles like cars and motorcycles.' 23岁的电信工程师何臣岩(音)在杭州挑选电动自行车时说，这些限制措施无关紧要，交通警才不会注意我们呢，他们关注的是汽车和摩托车等真正的机动车。他身旁的一位女销售人员则提供了另一个解决办法：在给新买的电动自行车上牌后，只需调一下电动机，就能将车子的最大时速恢复到20公里。她说，要是低于这一时速，你最好还是骑自行车算了。