Electric bicycles and mopeds are rarely seen in North America, but they are an essential part of everyday life in China, especially for people with low and middle incomes.
On August 7, numerous videos were posted online showing people taking to the streets in Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, to protest against the authorities' ban on electric vehicles. Some local people have told the public that there were thousands of people protesting with a number of them being arrested. Angry citizens blocked government vehicles and even traffic police were chased along by many protesters.
A participant in the protest said: "We are going to the government to get back our cars, go to work, do business, go out and do errands, we are not making trouble. We are people, the government should give us (ordinary) people's right to live. The government does whatever it wants, it doesn't care if the people live or die. The government is so unreasonable to us."
Taiwan, with more than 15 million e-bikes (including moped) registered in 2016, and an average of one e-bike for every 1.5 people, Taiwan's cities traffic remains orderly by large. In Taiwan's early days, e-bikes caused traffic chaos, such as traffic jams, inconvenient parking, and frequent accidents. However, instead of banning them, Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications has continued to gather public opinion and formulate management measures according to local conditions. Only the government were to do its duty and truly care about the people, it could regulate wide-spread traffic problems with no real issues.
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