As of the end of 2024, the number of electric bicycles in China exceeds 400 million, but some cyclists have weak safety awareness and many vehicles are illegally modified. According to data from the Ministry of Public Security, traffic accidents caused by electric bicycles account for about 10% of the total number of urban road traffic accidents, and liability disputes related to traffic accidents are also on the rise. In previous practice, it was common for electric bicycles to drive in the opposite direction, exceed the speed limit, or illegally enter the motor vehicle lane, causing accidents. The motor vehicle was not at fault but had to bear secondary responsibility. Recently, the Supreme People's Court publicly solicited opinions from the society on the interpretation of several issues related to the application of laws in the trial of traffic accident liability disputes. Many of these issues involve traffic accidents involving electric bicycles and motor vehicles, and have clarified the division of responsibilities that were often unclear in practice. Judge Wu Wei, Deputy Chief Judge of the Second Division of the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing, who has been hearing disputes over compensation for damages caused by road traffic accidents for many years, told reporters that in judicial practice, lawsuits related to electric bicycles account for a certain proportion of traffic accidents. "Especially in cases of personal injury in traffic accidents, basically the injured party is an electric bicycle, accounting for about 80% of the cases of personal injury in traffic accidents. The injuries are still relatively serious, and there are also many cases of disability." Failure to give way according to regulations, violation of traffic signals, illegal occupation of motor vehicle lanes, drunk driving, and reverse driving are the main causes of electric bicycle traffic accidents. When a traffic accident occurs between an electric bicycle and a motor vehicle, causing personal injury to the motor vehicle, the controversy becomes even greater. Wu Wei: The main issue of controversy is whether the non motorized party should compensate the motorized party if they are responsible? There is a viewpoint that according to Article 76 of the Road Traffic Law, there is no provision that non motor vehicles should compensate the motor vehicle party, and even if the non motor vehicle bears full responsibility for the accident, it should not compensate the motor vehicle party. Another viewpoint is that compensation based on fault is the basis of tort compensation. Therefore, although the non motorized party is at a disadvantage, it cannot exempt the non motorized party from compensation liability. Article 4 of the draft for soliciting opinions stipulates that "If a traffic accident occurs between an electric bicycle and a motor vehicle, causing personal injury to the motor vehicle, and the motor vehicle has evidence to prove that the electric bicycle is at fault and claims that the electric bicycle is liable for compensation, the people's court shall comprehensively consider factors such as the degree of fault of the perpetrator, the consequences of the damage, and the degree of danger of the transportation vehicles of all parties involved in the accident when determining the amount of compensation Regarding this, Lv Yanbin, director and researcher of the Rule of Law and National Conditions Research Office at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, analyzed that it is not natural for non motorized vehicles to be exempt from liability, but rather to build responsibility on whether they are at fault, reminding non motorized vehicle drivers, including electric self driving vehicles, to fulfill their duty of care and follow traffic rules during road driving. In fact, such a concept has already been formed in judicial practice. In a typical case released by the Supreme People's Court on October 30th, Li was driving an electric bicycle in the opposite direction and collided with He's two wheeled motorcycle, causing He to be injured. He was held fully responsible for the accident by the public security traffic management department. The court, taking into account the degree of fault on both sides, the consequences of the damage, as well as the level of danger and risk avoidance ability of motor vehicles and non motor vehicles, ultimately ruled that electric bicycle driver Li would compensate motorcycle driver He for various losses totaling over 19000 yuan. Wu Wei told reporters that in the trial practice, although some of the traffic accidents caused by non motorized vehicles resulting in personal injury to motor vehicle drivers were electric bicycles, there were also other non motorized vehicles and pedestrians. How to deal with the situation of bicycles? In fact, traffic accidents involving bicycles and motorcycles are also quite common in cases accepted by grassroots courts, so some opinions are also put forward, hoping to be considered. The draft for soliciting opinions only limits the situation where the motor vehicle party suffers personal injury. If it is property damage, what about requesting the electric bicycle party to pay for repair costs? Lv Yanbin believes that this responsibility should also be clarified. (New Society)