Residents demand action after deaths on bike-clogged Chinese road
Pedestrian and tricycle driver killed by unlicensed motorist on ‘neglected’ busy street
Residents of a Beijing neighbourhood are calling on the authorities to clear an unmarked road clogged with share bikes and electric scooters after two people were mowed down and killed by a car in the area on Thursday, Chinese media report.
The motorist, a 21-year-old unlicensed driver, hit an elderly woman crossing the road before ploughing into a road divider and colliding with an oncoming electric tricycle in eastern Beijing at about 6am, the report said.
The pedestrian was killed immediately and the tricycle driver died in hospital, while the motorist, a passenger in her car and a young girl on the tricycle were injured.
Police said the woman had been detained, and an investigation was under way.
But residents said the authorities and a developer had neglected the road since it opened a few months ago and the conditions were dangerous.
The pedestrian lanes were blocked by shared bikes and the bike lanes jammed with electric scooters, forcing pedestrians and bikes to use the motor vehicle lanes, the report said.
The road’s pedestrian crossing was poorly marked and pedestrians were instead cutting though a broken section of fence to get to the other side.
Residents said there were many offices in the area, resulting in a lot of bike and delivery traffic.
“Parking is free here so everybody comes to park [their vehicles]. And there’s no one to regulate. So it’s really jammed,” a resident was quoted as saying.