Time to regulate lethal low-speed electric vehicles

LOW-SPEED ELECTRIC VEHICLES have become increasingly popular, but in the event of an accident they not only harm others, they also harm the occupants, because although they have a similar weight to other cars and can travel at a reasonable speed, they do not have the same safety features as traditional cars. Data show that such low-speed electric vehicles have been involved in over 830,000 accidents that left 18,000 dead and 186,000 injured in the past five years. Thepaper.cn comments:

These low-speed electric vehicles look almost the same as any other car: They have four wheels, four doors, electric-controlled windows, air conditioning, even radios. And being electric, they can sometimes even accelerate faster than a car.

However, there are a number of big differences. The drivers of these vehicles usually have no license, no insurance and no number plate. So if they are involved in an accident and the driver flees, not only will there be no insurance paid out, the police might not be able to find him or her, because there is no registered license plate number.