Metropolitan cities bar electric devices as well as self-balancing devices called hoverboards

China's top two cities have banned electric scooters from roads amid safety concerns, despite the growing popularity of the new modes of transportation, for which there are no national safety standards.

Beijing's traffic authorities say that starting on Sept 5, people riding electric scooters on public roads will be fined 10 yuan ($1.50; 1.35 euros) and told to stay off the road. The ban applies to one- and two-wheeled self-balancing scooters, sometimes called hoverboards, as well.

The announcement was made after traffic police in Shanghai launched a campaign to get electric scooters off public roads, with police officers stopping riders because the scooters endangered traffic safety.

The Beijing Consumer Association says it tested more than 20 electric scooters of different brands recently and found that most had substandard brakes. The braking distance of some was as much as 9.9 meters, and only one could come to a full stop in less than 4 meters.

Sixteen of the tested scooters could go faster than the maximum 20 km/h set for electric bikes. The scooters, sometimes called kick scooters, typically are comprised of a small board and two or more wheels and a handlebar mounted on a pole at the front.

"They (electric scooters) don't fall in the category of either motor vehicles or nonmotorized ones (according to Chinese law)," says Dong Dehai, a spokesman for Shanghai's Huangpu district police.

Authorities in Guangzhou, China's third-largest city, are also considering a ban on electric scooters, according to media reports.

Despite the safety hazard and lack of safety standards, the scooters are nonetheless gaining popularity. On Taobao, China's leading e-commerce website, several thousand sellers of self-balancing scooters can be found. Many of them sold more than 4,000 each in the past month.

BaiHe, a 27-year-old hair-dresser in Beijing who bought a two-wheeled self-balancing scooter in early August for work transportation, says he will ignore the ban, considering the scooter's convenience.

"I live 10 kilometers away from my barbershop," he says. "The scooter can travel 25 kilometers on one charge. It's cheap, convenient and easy to control. It can also avoid traffic jams."

He also says it's easy to stop the scooter. "What you have to do is to lean your body backward a little bit and it can be stopped easily, since its speed is low."

Ding Zhilei, assistant president of Ninebot Inc, a Beijing-based maker of personal electric vehicles, says his company is cooperating with the government to draft safety standards for electric self-balancing scooters and to promote legislation.

Ma Si contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 09/02/2016 page15)