A video is circulating online showing an accident in China where a female motorcyclist—riding without a helmet—collided with a dump truck, fell, and was crushed to death. It highlights a shocking lack of safety awareness.
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Fatalities involving electric two-wheelers in China nearly doubled over a decade.
The vehicle involved in the accident shown in this video was an electric scooter ridden without a helmet—a type of incident that is far from rare in China. Chinese media reports indicate that in 2019, accidents involving electric bicycles and scooters resulted in 8,639 deaths and 44,677 injuries; these casualty figures had nearly doubled over the decade since 2009. Although helmet use is estimated to reduce the severity of head injuries by up to 80%, the usage rate stood at only around 30% in 2019. Even by the end of 2020, there was no nationwide mandatory helmet law, and authorities had only just begun public awareness campaigns that lacked enforcement penalties.
This situation stems from the widespread adoption of electric bicycles and scooters—estimated at 250 to 300 million units nationwide by mid-2019—which have become a primary means of daily transportation, including for commuting. National surveys conducted between 2006 and 2016 revealed that riders of motorized two-wheelers accounted for 25% of all traffic fatalities. While this figure is lower than the global average for two-wheeler fatalities (approximately 30%), it highlights a scenario where safety measures have failed to keep pace with the rapid proliferation of these vehicles.
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