Filed under: Legislation and Policy, On Two Wheels, China
14,277 cycles in China deemed illegal, destroyed
There sure are lots of two-wheelers coming from China these days. Still, there are plenty that stay in China and are ridden by those who can't quite swing the cost of a car or its fuel. Many of these mopeds, scooters and motorcycles are powered by gas, but there is a growing number of electric two-wheelers in China as well. Oddly, in Yungang district, Shenzhen, all two-wheeled vehicles have been banned - gas, electric, whatever. So, why is that? Is it due to the environmental impact of old machinery or are just there too many? No and no. It seems that there were a rash of crimes being committed where the perps got away on motorcycles. The unique solution is to confiscate any and all two-wheelers, gather them up into huge piles and crush them with bulldozers. Yeah, that'll do it. The results? Besides making it much more difficult for tons of people to get around, motorbike robberies are down 58.32 percent this year and China has another eco disaster on its hands.
[Source: DANWEI via The Scooter Scoop]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Burning Witches? 9:06AM (9/10/2008)
Witches burn. Wood burns. Wood floats. Ducks float. If she weighs the same as a duck, she must be a witch.
Motorcycles cause robbery???
I have been to this part of China. Lets just say that critical thinking is not common there.
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GoodCheer 9:42AM (9/10/2008)
+100 for the first Monty Python reference I've seen on ABG.
tekdemon 5:24AM (9/12/2008)
Posting ignorant crap like this just shows how little about China you know. It reduces robberies because muggers in China don't just walk up to you in a dark alley, they ride their motorcycles up onto sidewalks, or just next to sidewalks and grab people's purses. And you know what happens to a lot of those women? They get dragged after the motorcycle on the asphalt until their purse straps break.
Seeing as how this actually happened TWICE to someone in my family (the first time her purse strap broke immediately, the second time she wasn't as lucky and ended up needed surgery to put her face back together), I can assure you that they didn't just ban motorcycles for fun. The only reason these bans even occured is because the problem has become so insanely rampant that it comes down to either banning motorcycles or having regular citizens be in total fear of lunatics dragging them down the street.
Anyways I don't even know why Autoblog is posting this story now, it happened so very long ago (fairly obvious since there are already statistics on the crime drop). And the byline on the actual main Autoblog site makes it sound like it's thieves stealing motorcycles. *sigh*
ryan 9:14AM (9/10/2008)
And you thought GM was crazy after seeing them crush the EV-1s???
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Rich 9:15AM (9/10/2008)
Seems like the real beneficiaries would be the car companies. Just like GM did by buying up trolley and bus companies.
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Phil L. 9:25AM (9/10/2008)
Predictable follow-up story:
Scooters stamped out; thieves weren't. They adapt to other modes of transportation; keep stealing.
Real problems remain unaddressed.
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tekdemon 5:34AM (9/12/2008)
The point isn't to stop thieves entirely, but to stop people from being dragged after motorcycles because these thieves do ride-by muggings of people's purses and bookbags. Also, it's a lot harder for cops to chase after motorcycles than it is for cops to chase after criminals on foot, or even in cars (since traffic is so bad in most Chinese cities trying to get away in a car just doesn't work).
Until you've actually been on the ground in China and assessed the crime problems there I suggest not just spouting off opinions based on a fantasy of evil totalitarian rulers out to destroy the lives of motorcycle riders. Why in the world would any government randomly ban motorcycles when so many own them?!? The only reason they've banned them is because their citizens got tired of living in constant fear of being dragged off by criminals on motorcycles (who have even been known to cut people's hands off to get people to get go of their bags) and pretty much demanded that the cops do something. And the cops were so frustrated by not being able to catch any of these criminals (try chasing after a criminal who just mugged someone at 30mph...on a motorcycle, in a city with insanely congested traffic) that they eventually had to resort to this.
You can bash China for a lot of stuff, but in this case the ban is what people wanted. It's not optimal, but people were reimbursed for their motorcycles and most Chinese cities have excellent public transportation and horrible pollution problems, so while it's not big on freedoms it's managed to improve safety, pollution, and also traffic problems (go to any Chinese city that still has motorcycles and you'll see idiots riding on the sidewalk, riding between cars and the sidewalk [especially fun when you try to get out of a taxi and some moron has decided to ride by in the 2 feet between you and a fence]).
I can pretty much guarantee you that if your city had a problem with lunatic muggers on motorcycles like most Chinese cities have, you'd probably want motorcycles off the streets as well.
JiltedCitizen 9:28AM (9/10/2008)
Seems logical to me. Make those robbers run damn it!
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brn 10:09AM (9/10/2008)
Not to worry. China is becoming a super power.
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MikeW 10:13AM (9/10/2008)
Unicycles or skateboards next?
What about those shoes with wheels in the heels? [yes heelies]
Oh thaaat China! The model police state for the world.
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gorr 11:05AM (9/10/2008)
Here in canada they more then double the registration fee for motorcycle in the last year, 120% raise in one year. The prime minister don't even talk abouth it because he can't do nothing abouth it because it come from above.. it must be the same international administrative terrorists that raised gasoline and food prices.
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Arnold Schneider 11:17AM (9/10/2008)
Scientists have concluded that the overwhelming majority of thieves have legs and use them whilst commiting a crime. Therefore I strongly suggest, that we cut off all legs of all people in china as a preventive measure to get back to save grounds.
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Tim 11:31AM (9/10/2008)
Gov't = Tyranny!
More Gov't = Less Freedom
Keep you powder dry.
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weldo 12:41PM (9/10/2008)
This is as stupid as banning guns to lower crime.
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MikeInNC 1:05PM (9/10/2008)
THIS JUST IN: Those seen fleeing the robberies weren't truly the robbers but actually attractive actors playing the the role of robbers during the getaway so the public would know that Chinese robbers were very good looking.
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Erik 6:12PM (9/10/2008)
Weldo, you beat me to it.
This is exactly the same sort of guilty-until-proven-innocent thinking that causes so many otherwise intelligent people to think that banning guns will somehow keep them safe.
After all, nobody has ever been killed with a rock, just as nobody has ever committed a crime on foot.
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Luke 6:35PM (9/10/2008)
What are you guys talking about?! This is a huge improvement. 20 years ago they would have gathered up the people and destroyed them. Now they are going after the scooters. Baby steps, people.....baby steps.......
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Rick 7:04PM (9/10/2008)
I'm glad the theives weren't using cars as getaway vehicles. That would have been a mess.
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tekdemon 5:41AM (9/12/2008)
Dude...have you seen the traffic in China? There's 1.4 billion people there...cars are horrible getaway vehicles.
And most of these robberies occur while the thieves are still on the motorcycles, they don't get off-they just ride the motorcycles up next to you (including onto sidewalks), grab your purse/jacket/whatever and hit the gas. And if you're dragged after them they either just wait until your bag straps break, or they cut your hands/fingers off.
Come on man, don't just apply your American concept of what muggings are like to other countries. There's a reason why South Africans put flame throwers on their cars, and a reason why China has to ban motorcycles, and in both cases it's because crime there is quite different than crime where you are.
I will admit that I personally had no clue why they would crush these bikes until I actually went to China and met a family member who had been mugged twice, and got dragged after the motorcycle face down on the asphalt the second time (which, btw, required a good deal of surgery and is probably traumatic beyond belief). So unless you're cool with your friends and family being dragged after motorcycles all the time, my guess is that if you lived in one of these Chinese cities you'd probably be FOR the ban, like most Chinese people actually are. Which, incidentally, is why you haven't heard of riots in the streets in Shenzhen about motorcycles being destroyed. If most people actually wanted to keep the motorcycles they wouldn't have been taken away, but most people there WANTED THE MOTORCYCLES GONE.
kballs 7:48PM (9/10/2008)
What? Don't they have motorcycle cops in China? The mind boggles.
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