To ensure road safety all users must obey rules

ON SUNDAY, the driver of a bus in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, reportedly swerved off the road in order to avoid hitting an e-bike that was crossing at a junction against the lights. Thepaper.cn comments:

The incident reflects a problem that is quite common in China. Some riders of e-bikes break the rules of the road and so endanger safety.

Some argue that e-bikes are the weaker side compared with automobiles so they should be given higher right of way. That sounds reasonable, but the case in Hangzhou shows e-bike riders are not always the weaker. Sometimes when they break the rules, drivers that try to avoid hitting them are in effect the weaker of the two parties.