Where can children under 12 go to ride a bike? Reporters found these greenways in Beijing
2024-08-14
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Recently, the news of an 11-year-old boy’s death on a road in Hebei has attracted public attention, and netizens have also discussed how children can ride bicycles more safely. After a series of visits, the Beijing News reporter found that around popular cycling areas such as Nanhaizi and Longtan East Road in Beijing, there are always young children who look like elementary school students riding on the road every afternoon and evening, which poses a risk. Parents can often be seen following them carefully.
According to the requirements of the Road Traffic Safety Law, children under the age of 12 are not allowed to ride on public roads. A data analysis result from the Road Traffic Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Public Security shows that in recent years, traffic accidents involving children under the age of 12 have accounted for 7.5% of the total number of cycling accidents. Although "young children" cannot ride on the road, they can choose to ride in suburban parks such as the Grand Canal Forest Park and Chaoyang Greenway, as well as urban greenways, which can meet the needs of young children to practice riding. In addition, they should also pay attention to not riding too fast, and wear helmets and protective gear.
On the morning of August 13, a child was riding on the greenway of the Grand Canal Forest Park accompanied by his parents. To ensure safety, both wore helmets. Photo by Beijing News reporter Wang Guibin
Problem: On some roads, you can always see children riding bicycles in the afternoon and evening.
On the evening of August 13 and the afternoon of August 14, the reporter visited Longtan East Road, located next to the moat of the Southeast Second Ring Road, twice. This section of the riverside road is lined with dense trees, and there are seats, public toilets and other facilities along the way, which is convenient for resting on the way and attracts many cyclists.
There are many teenagers and children among the cyclists. Some of them are not very skilled in cycling, and their parents are following them cautiously, fearing accidents. "We rode like this when we were young, and we didn't feel any danger, and the children didn't ride fast," said a young father who was practicing cycling with his son. He thought that as long as they didn't ride fast, there would be no accidents.
Mr. Lin is a "regular" here. He chooses a time when there is less traffic to ride his bike on Longtan East Road every day, usually riding ten circles around the greenway. He believes that safety is of utmost importance when riding on the road, and one should not pursue speed too much, "especially children, who should pay more attention to maintaining a safe speed."
However, facing the complex road conditions in Beijing's urban areas where people and vehicles coexist, young children's safety response ability is obviously insufficient and they are more likely to get into accidents. Therefore, cycling is not a "zero threshold" sport that anyone with a car can do.
When parents take their children cycling, they often let the children ride on the inside of them. However, the width of the bicycle lane is usually only between 2 meters and 2.5 meters, and the space for passage is limited. Sometimes in order to give way to faster vehicles behind, parents and children often have to keep a distance and cannot take care of each other in real time.
Many people on Longtan East Road ride professional road bikes at high speeds, and there are also some electric bicycles on the non-motorized lanes. Therefore, in order to overtake or avoid children riding, other cyclists often need to reserve enough space, and inevitably ride on the motorized lanes.
The reporter noticed that compared with children who are not very skilled in riding, some children with better "riding skills" tend to be in a state of "letting the horse run free". Recently, in the vicinity of Olympic Park and Nanhaizi Park, the reporter has seen parents taking their children to ride on the streets. Since the roads in these areas are wider, parents and children tend to ride faster. On social media platforms, you can often see guides and videos of parents taking their children to ride on these roads. Although the children wear helmets, gloves and other protective gear, their riding speed is not much slower than that of adults.
Current situation: Traffic accidents involving riders under the age of 12 account for 7.5% of cycling accidents
According to the "Implementation Regulations of the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China", children under the age of 12 are not allowed to ride bicycles on public roads. Even if they are accompanied by their parents, children under the age of 12 are not allowed to ride on public roads.
According to the clear provisions of my country's Road Traffic Safety Law, "road" refers to highways, urban roads and places under the jurisdiction of a unit but where social motor vehicles are allowed to pass, including squares, public parking lots and other places for public passage.
It is not always possible to let children ride bicycles in the "community". Strictly speaking, if the roads in the community allow vehicles to pass, they also fall into the category of "roads" in the Road Traffic Law, and children under the age of 12 are not allowed to ride bicycles on these roads. If it is only in open spaces, squares and other places in the community where vehicles are not allowed to pass, then they can ride bicycles.
The phenomenon of younger people riding bicycles has become increasingly prominent in recent years. Traffic management departments have also discovered this change and issued relevant safety tips. According to the accident case data analysis results of the Road Traffic Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Public Security, in recent years, traffic accidents involving bicycles of people under the age of 12 have accounted for 7.5% of the total number of cycling accidents.
The traffic control department said that the legal requirement for riding a bicycle on the road is that the age must be at least 12 years old, which is formulated after comprehensive consideration of the child's height, self-control ability, psychological characteristics, actual road conditions, etc. Children's judgment, adaptability and body control and coordination ability are not enough to fully adapt to complex traffic conditions, and it is very dangerous to ride on the road before reaching the riding age.
The reporter learned that in recent years, Beijing's traffic management department has often used opportunities such as Children's Day, the first class of the new semester, and Traffic Safety Day to go to primary and secondary schools to teach children about traffic safety knowledge, and cycling safety has increasingly become a focus of the teaching. Traffic policemen enhance children's traffic safety awareness of "knowing dangers and avoiding them" by telling them about the traffic risks they may encounter in daily life and how to ensure their own safety by abiding by the rules and laws.
Countermeasures: Some suburban parks and urban greenways in Beijing can meet the needs of children riding
As the weather gets cooler, Beijing is about to enter the most comfortable season of the year, which is very suitable for cycling. Many parents also want to take their children to ride bicycles for exercise. So, where can children under the age of 12 go to ride bicycles? If there is no spacious space in the community, does it mean that children will lose the opportunity to ride bicycles before they are 12 years old?
The reporter learned that Beijing is combining the "multi-network integration" plan to build many urban greenways and suburban parks that allow cycling, which are more in line with the needs of parent-child cycling. The way to find these "greenways" is not complicated. You can search for keywords such as "greenway" through map navigation software, and the system will push out multiple greenways for selection. Some navigation software even provides a separate page for greenways, which can directly navigate to the starting point of the corresponding greenway with one click.
Recently, the reporter visited the Grand Canal Forest Park and Chaoyang Greenway successively and found that in these "closed" greenways, parents can take their children to practice cycling more safely.
There is a cycling path in Chaoyang Greenway, which is a "closed" design and can meet the needs of parent-child cycling. Photo by Beijing News reporter Wang Guibin
At 10 a.m. on August 14, many citizens were riding bicycles in the Chaoyang Greenway near the East Fourth Ring Road. Since only pedestrians and bicycles are allowed to enter the greenway, there is no interference from motor vehicles and electric bicycles, so the riding safety is relatively high, which has attracted some parents to bring their children to practice riding. A parent who was riding with his child told reporters that the child is 5 years old this year, and they also think it is unsafe for such a young child to ride on the road, so they often bring their children here to practice riding and exercise. "The environment here is good, there are rest areas and green shade."
In July this year, the Yongding River Waterfront Corridor in Fengtai District was also completed and opened. It includes a 13.08-kilometer-long continuous waterfront greenway for citizens to ride and hike. This 13.08-kilometer-long waterfront greenway starts from Xiaoyue Lake Park in the north, passes through Green Embankment Country Park and Purple Valley Eden Garden, and ends at Beitiantang Park. There are many cycling rest stations along the way.
In Beijing, similar cycling routes include the "Three Mountains and Five Parks" greenway, Liangshui River Park greenway, Wenyu River greenway, and Dongxiaokou Forest Park cycling greenway, which are also good choices. At the same time, riding in these greenways also requires following some "rules", such as not riding too fast and wearing helmets and protective gear.
The Grand Canal Forest Park in Tongzhou District is a free open park with a greenway for cycling. You can also enjoy the Grand Canal scenery while riding. On the morning of August 13, the reporter saw on the cycling path of the Grand Canal Forest Park that many of the cyclists who checked in were parents accompanying their children. To ensure safety, many children wore cycling helmets. In order to take into account the needs of different groups such as cyclists and walkers, the park also specially set up a sign to "give way to pedestrians and slow down." The reporter noticed that the enthusiasts who exercise by cycling here generally do not ride too fast, and mainly ride for leisure.
Suggestion: Create a "biking park" suitable for children to simulate the urban traffic environment
"Cycling is not only a means of transportation, but also a sport. We should consider how to protect the safety of cyclists as a whole, while taking into account the needs of both traffic and leisure sports." Liu Daizong, member of the Expert Committee of Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission and Chief Representative of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) in East Asia, believes that cycling greenways are limited by factors such as the setting area and site planning, and are often a certain distance away from concentrated residential areas. It is difficult to completely replace the function of urban cycling roads, but they are more suitable for "parent-child cycling" for young children.
On the morning of August 14, some parents took their children to practice riding bicycles on the Chaoyang Greenway. Photo by Beijing News reporter Wang Guibin
As for the bicycle lanes in a larger area, Liu Daizong believes that what should be done now is to strengthen the protection of cyclists' safety. "This protection is not necessarily limited to isolation guardrails. It can also be to create a 'protected bicycle lane', create a safe riding environment through embedded parking spaces, soft isolation, etc., and even isolate it with some low concrete guardrails and lightweight green flower boxes."
Regarding the issue of "young children riding bicycles on the road", Liu Daizong believes that in addition to legal restrictions on young children riding bicycles on the road, more efforts should be made to enhance children's awareness of cycling safety. For example, we can learn from the experience of other countries and regions to create "cycling parks" that are more suitable for children's cognition, mainly for children under 12 years old. In addition to providing safe cycling roads, the park can also simulate urban traffic environments, such as traffic lights, zebra crossings, intersections and other settings, so that children can understand and master the necessary cycling safety knowledge while practicing cycling, even though they don't have to go on real roads.
Beijing News reporter Pei Jianfei and intern Jiang Yangtao
Edited by Zhang Shujing Proofread by Zhang Yanjun
