It is necessary to strengthen propaganda and guidance on the regulation prohibiting students under 16 years old from riding electric motorbikes.

Parents and students confused

According to Ms. NTH, Lien Chung hamlet, Phong Thinh commune (Thanh Chuong), her family has bought an electric motorbike for her child to use as a means of transportation to school for many years now. Riding an electric motorbike is very convenient, because it is faster, less tiring, especially on rainy or sunny days...

However, Phong Thinh Primary and Secondary School recently announced that students under 16 years old are not allowed to use electric motorbikes, so now she has switched to riding a bicycle to school. "I have been using electric motorbikes for a long time to get around, but I don't understand why they are now banned. Now she is tired of having to ride a bicycle to school, but her family still doesn't know what kind of bike to buy instead" - Ms. NTH shared.
Ms. NTN, Hoa Binh hamlet, Thanh Hoa commune (Thanh Chuong) also said: For a long time, my child has been using "electric charging vehicles", but since the school announced that electric motorbikes are not allowed to be used, along with assigning responsibility to the person who delivers the vehicle, leaving the vehicle to someone who is not qualified to drive the vehicle to participate in traffic, the family does not let the child use the "electric charging vehicle" anymore.

“We really don’t know if the vehicle my child has been using to go to school every day is an electric bicycle or an electric motorbike, as we bought it used from a repair shop that has now stopped operating. The vehicle has no papers, we just know that when it is fully charged it is ready to go,” Ms. NTN said.

This is also a problem that confuses many parents in Phong Thinh commune. Finding out the reality at Phong Thinh Primary and Secondary School: The whole school has 290 secondary school students and 372 primary school students. Of the total number of vehicles that students use to go to school, there are 180 electric vehicles, including electric motorbikes and electric bicycles, mainly used by secondary school students. However, since the announcement of banning students under 16 years old from using electric motorbikes to school, the number of students who previously used electric motorbikes and electric bicycles to school is very small.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tung - Principal of Phong Thinh Primary and Secondary School said: The school has not received any questions from parents or students about the regulation prohibiting students under 16 years old from riding electric motorbikes to school. It is only seen that the number of electric motorbikes and electric bicycles that students previously used as means of transportation to school is less than before, only counted on the fingers.

According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tung, the regulation only prohibits students under 16 years old from riding electric motorbikes, while electric bicycles are rudimentary vehicles that can still be used normally. However, due to not understanding the regulations and not being able to distinguish between these two types of vehicles, both parents and students are still confused.

Need to strengthen propaganda and specific instructions

It is known that on December 22, 2023, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district issued Document No. 2945/UBND-CA on strengthening traffic safety for students in the area. The document clearly stated: "Through monitoring, in recent times, the situation of students at junior high and high schools using motorbikes, motorbikes (including electric motorbikes) and similar vehicles (abbreviated as motorbikes, motorbikes, electric motorbikes) to participate in traffic, causing traffic insecurity has been quite common; in particular, there are some cases under 16 years old, but still using motorbikes, motorbikes, electric motorbikes without license plates to participate in traffic at high speed, weaving, swerving... leading to many potential risks of traffic accidents.
There are many reasons for the above situation, including the fact that a number of students are not aware of their responsibility in complying with the law when participating in traffic. Many parents are not very aware of the law, handing over or leaving vehicles to people who are not qualified to drive vehicles in traffic (handing over motorbikes, electric motorbikes to children under 16 years old; handing over motorbikes to children who do not have a driver's license...).

According to Mr. Le Dinh Thanh - Vice Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee: Based on that reality, the district issued a document to the departments and functional branches to regularly check and monitor the implementation of traffic laws by students. In particular, there is urgent content directing schools not to let students under 16 years old drive electric motorbikes or motorbikes to school.

As an advisory body, on December 18, 2023, Thanh Chuong District Police also issued Document No. 1434/CAH-CSGT on implementing solutions to ensure traffic safety and prevent traffic accidents, sent to schools, including junior high schools in the area.

Implementing the direction of the Provincial Police Director, and at the same time, to prevent and promptly deploy solutions to ensure traffic safety and prevent traffic accidents, the District Police have requested schools to propagate to students about the age of driving motor vehicles participating in road traffic. Specifically, Clause 1, Article 60 of the Road Traffic Law stipulates the age of drivers as follows: People 16 years of age or older are allowed to drive motorbikes with a cylinder capacity of less than 50 cm3; People 18 years of age or older are allowed to drive two-wheeled motorbikes, three-wheeled motorbikes with a cylinder capacity of 50 cm3³or more.
Thus, most secondary school students are not old enough to drive electric motorbikes and motorbikes with a cylinder capacity of less than 50 cm.³… Therefore, Thanh Chuong District Police have advised the District People's Committee to issue a document requesting schools to review, notify and remind students who are not of legal age to stop using electric motorbikes to school, comply with the Road Traffic Law and strictly implement regulations on road traffic participation.

Lieutenant Colonel Tran Viet Thang - Deputy Head of Thanh Chuong District Police

It can be seen that the issuance of documents, including content related to electric motorbikes, is not beyond the goal of preventing and promptly implementing solutions to ensure traffic safety and prevent traffic accidents for the group of students. Specifically, only students under 16 years old are prohibited from driving electric motorbikes, but electric bicycles are not prohibited.

However, it is the lack of understanding of the regulations, as well as the lack of distinction between electric motorbikes and electric bicycles that has made parents confused. Therefore, along with the issuance of documents, the dissemination and propaganda work needs to be paid more attention by the authorities and schools so that people know and implement correctly. Along with that, to end the situation of underage students still using motorbikes, scooters, and electric motorbikes, in addition to the patrolling and handling work of the authorities, there needs to be synchronous coordination from families and schools in management and supervision.

Regarding the distinction between electric bicycles and electric motorbikes, according to Lieutenant Colonel Tran Viet Thang: People in general and parents in particular need to clearly understand that electric bicycles are rudimentary vehicles with pedal structures, a maximum speed of 35km/h, and an engine capacity of no more than 350W; electric motorbikes are vehicles with a speed of over 35km/h and an engine capacity of 350W or more. The easiest point to distinguish between electric bicycles and electric motorbikes is that electric motorbikes must go through registration procedures and have license plates, while electric bicycles do not need to go through these procedures...