Top Biz News
Crackdown on three-wheeled cars imminent
By Wang Wen (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-29 07:54
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Completely enclosed three-wheeled motorbikes, resembling miniature cars, are the newest target of traffic police harking concerns over safety standards.
The modified motorbike has some similar features of a car such as bright headlights, three seats and turning signals, but is driven by a motorbike engine.
Traffic police in Xuanwu district said recently that motorbike modifications were illegal due to safety concerns, which meant that getting hold of number plates was impossible.
Several modified motorbike shops near Tiantan's west gate in Xuanwu district removed their products from forecourts yesterday.
Shop owners are more cautious than usual after local newspapers published the fact that the modified motorbike business was illegal.
The traffic police said they have monitored the illegal practice for some time and are getting ready for a crackdown in the area.
"Modified motorbikes have similar emissions as conventional motorbikes, but drivers run the engines are much harder rates," said an official with the Xuanwu district traffic police, who declined to give his name.
The official said the police are about to launch a crackdown on illegal sales, but he would not say when the crackdown would begin.
A modified motorbike is priced at around 10,000 yuan and consumes roughly 4 l of gas every 100 km.
"They sell very well," said a salesman at one of the shops.
He added that his shop could sell two or three modified motorbikes in one day.
Modified motorbikes appeared on the Beijing market about two months. Their appearances are regularly updated and they are also growing in size.
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The vehicle's maximum speed can top 80 km per hour, which police believe is dangerous. However, a salesman at an unspecified shop disagreed by pointing out the weight of 380 kg.
"The heavy weight can help to keep it steady when moving at high speeds," an owner of a shop said.
Stickers saying the motorbike was for old people are attached to all the modified motorbikes in the shop, but the shop owner said anybody could drive it.
"It does not need a driving license," she added.
A passersby's question summed up the problem of the vehicle's modified status. "Should I drive it on the road or the side path ?" the woman said as she walked past the shop.
