Recently, electric bicycle accidents have occurred frequently, which has brought a serious threat to the safety of people's lives and property. On February 23, 2024, a ** disaster occurred in Building 6, Mingshang Xiyuan, Yuhuatai District, Nanjing, resulting in a tragedy of 15 deaths and 44 injuries. Preliminary investigation results show that the fire originated from an electric bicycle parked on the overhead level of the building. A similar incident occurred on December 28, 2023, when a fire broke out in a villager's self-built house in Dongxindian Village, Cuigezhuang Township, Chaoyang District, Beijing, resulting in the death of four people. In addition, on December 13, 2023, a ** disaster in Huidong County, Guangdong Province was also caused by the loss of battery control during the charging process of the electric bicycle. It can be seen that electric bicycles have caused a large number of fire accidents due to illegal parking and charging.
So, what are the violations of parking and charging of e-bikes and their legal responsibilities? According to the provisions of Article 1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, acts that endanger public safety, such as arson, flooding, and **, if they have not caused serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years; If serious injury, death or significant property damage is caused, the penalty shall be imprisonment for not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or the death penalty. Article 64 of the Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China also clearly stipulates that if the act of negligently causing a disaster does not constitute a crime, it may be detained for not less than 10 days but not more than 15 days, and may also be fined up to 500 yuan; where the circumstances are more minor, a warning or a fine of up to 500 yuan is to be imposed.
In addition, according to the provisions of Article 1 of the Regulations on Fire Safety Management of High-rise Civil Buildings, it is forbidden to park or charge electric bicycles in the public foyers, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits of high-rise civil buildings. In violation of this provision, business units and individuals may be fined between 2,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan, and non-business units and individuals may be fined between 500 yuan and 1,000 yuan.
In addition to legal liability, property service enterprises should also bear the corresponding fire safety prevention responsibilities. According to the notice of the General Office on printing and distributing the implementation measures of the fire safety responsibility system and the notice of the Ministry of Public Security on standardizing the parking and charging of electric vehicles to strengthen fire prevention, property service enterprises should provide fire safety prevention services, maintain and manage the shared fire protection facilities and evacuation channels, safety exits and fire truck passages in the management area, and timely discourage and stop occupying, blocking, and closing evacuation channels, safety exits, and fire truck passages. If it refuses to make corrections, the property management service enterprise shall immediately report to the public security organ and other competent authorities.
In addition, it is forbidden to park or charge electric vehicles in public areas such as shared walkways, stairwells, and safety exits in the building. The centralized parking and charging places of electric bicycles and electric motorcycles should meet the technical standards for fire protection, and be equipped with necessary fire fighting equipment, and the charging facilities should be full of automatic power-off functions. Violation of the above provisions may result in a certain fine.
To sum up, the illegal parking and charging behavior of electric bicycles will pose a threat to the safety of people's lives and property. In order to eliminate this threat, the management and supervision of electric bicycle parking and charging should be strengthened, and the occurrence of violations should be prohibited. At the same time, individuals and property service companies should also strengthen their own fire safety awareness, avoid violations, and ensure social fire safety. By strengthening publicity and education, raise people's awareness of fire safety of electric bicycles, and jointly maintain the safety and stability of society.