Traffic chaos can be a problem in many of China's biggest cities and in recent years, a new way of beating the early morning rush hour has emerged - scooters powered by smart technology have become especially popular in places where traffic jams happen all too often. But increasingly city authorities are seeing them as a risk and are starting to introduce new laws to regulate scooters.
At this restaurant in Shanghai, these men with their top of the range scooters are offering designated driver services with a fee, transporting party-goers home who can't drive their own vehicles.
While there's nothing wrong with their business model, the scooters themselves have caught the attention of the police. This man has already been fined.
This morning at 9:09. The police officer said this is not for commuting.
According to city regulations in Shanghai, electric scooters have to be licensed before they can drive on public roads. But police say, this new type of vehicle doesn't fall into any of the categories currently recognised by the government.
And the biggest problem is safety...some of these scooters can travel as fast as 28 kilometers per hour, in excess of the safety limit. And when they brake, their stopping distance is a hefty seven meters.
This vehicle runs fast and is not stable. It performs poorly in braking. When you have a situation, it just can't stop in time.
That point has been proven by a number of accidents which have already happened.
Last year, a young man using a balance scooter couldn't brake in time and collided with a pedestrian, who was killed in the accident.
"This kind of vehicle is neither a motor vehicle nor a non-motor vehicle. So its safety standards or mechanical standards don't relate to current national standards," Xie Yu, judge wotj Shanghai Changning District Court, said.
Experts are now calling for new official regulations controlling the use of these scooters to be rolled out soon. Until then, as cool as it may be to zip around town, they don't recommend riding them on busy city streets.
