Does Motor Vehicle Yielding to Pedestrians Include Electric Bicycles?
2 Answers
Motor vehicles must yield to both pedestrians and electric bicycles when passing. Relevant regulations are introduced as follows: According to the "Road Traffic Safety Law", motor vehicles should slow down when approaching a crosswalk; when encountering pedestrians crossing the crosswalk, they must stop and yield; when driving on roads without traffic signals and encountering pedestrians crossing the road, motor vehicles must give way. Violations of these rules will result in a 3-point penalty and a fine for the driver. Situations where yielding is not required include when pedestrians are on the crosswalk but separated by an empty lane from the vehicle, allowing the motor vehicle to proceed normally under safe conditions.
I've pondered this question many times as well. Those food delivery e-bikes often zip past the front of my car. The rule that motor vehicles must yield to pedestrians does include non-motorized vehicles like bicycles and wheelchairs, but e-bikes fall under the motor vehicle category. However, in practice, traffic police handle it case by case: if a delivery guy is pushing his e-bike across a crosswalk, failing to yield will definitely get you a ticket; but if he comes zooming through on his bike and an accident occurs, he'll bear primary responsibility. When driving near crosswalks, we still need to slow down regardless of whether it's pedestrians or cyclists - after all, hitting anyone would be terrible. Just last week at my residential compound's entrance, a car failed to yield to an old man pushing his e-bike, and the side mirror got knocked clean off.