Hong Kong police arrest woman over riding e-bike carrying 3 children without helmets

Hong Kong police have arrested a woman for eight traffic-related offences over riding a suspected e-bicycle carrying three children without helmets and ignoring traffic signals.

The incident is the second such case within a week, with the force arresting a 37-year-old woman last Friday on suspicion of riding an e-bicycle along a pavement while carrying two children.

Police said on Monday that officers from the New Territories North traffic unit arrested a woman, aged 34, earlier that day in Tin Shui Wai after an online video showed a rider on a suspected e-bike with a boy and two girls going along Tin Tan Street in Tin Shui Wai.

In the footage, a woman can be seen disobeying traffic signals while crossing Tin Shui Road.

The clip also shows a boy and one of the girls sitting in front of the rider, while the other child is positioned behind her, all without helmets, as they try to cross a road packed with moving vehicles.

The 34-year-old woman was charged with eight offences, including dangerous driving, driving without a licence, driving a motorcycle on a pedestrian path, riding without wearing a protective helmet and illegally carrying a passenger under the age of eight.

She has been granted bail and told to report to police by the end of June.

Police stressed that “electric mobility devices should not be used on the same road as regular vehicles, nor should they be used on pedestrian paths or cycling tracks”.

The force warned that anyone driving an electric mobility device without a vehicle registration licence could be in breach of the Road Traffic Ordinance, among other laws.

According to the ordinance, a mechanically or electrically propelled bicycle is classified as a motorised vehicle.

In Hong Kong, driving a powered mobility device without a registration licence is punishable by up to 12 months in prison and a HK$10,000 (US$1,280) fine.