Thursday, January 28, 2010

Electric Bikes Terrorize the Streets of China

Wall Street Journal, January 17
Author: Shai Oster

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.

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.

[An issue to be aware of in Canada. -MH]

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