Beijing legislators on Saturday called for more protection of drivers involved in collisions with pedestrians and non-motor vehicles.

The Legal Affairs Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress proposed that more consideration be given to drivers' rights. The proposal was part of a report prepared after a public hearing last month on the local implementation of the national Road Safety Law.

The law became effective in May and puts full responsibility on the drivers in the case of a collision with non-motor vehicles or pedestrians if the insurance company fails to cover all of the compensation costs.

The responsibility decreases if there is evidence that non-motor vehicle drivers or pedestrians broke the law or that drivers adopted immediate and effective measures to deal with the situation.

Many Beijing residents, especially motorists, have said the law is unfair.

The report by the committee calls for the drivers to face the least compensation possible if they did not make any errors that may have led to the collision.

"If the motor vehicle side is responsible for the accident, it should shoulder accurate compensation according to its level of mistakes," the committee said.

Drivers should shoulder full compensation only when they do not report to police or effectively protect the scene of the accident and there is no evidence to prove that the non-motor vehicle or pedestrian violated the law or that the driver takes effective measures to deal with the situation.

The report, submitted to the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, further advises that an adult could carry a child below 12 years old when driving a bicycle and a person could accompany a handicapped one who drives a motorized wheelchair vehicle.

In the original draft for the municipal implementation of the law, motorized wheelchairs for the disabled were forbidden to carry anyone except for the driver and only children below seven years old could be carried on a bicycle.

The report will be examined by the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress by the end of this month.

(China Daily October 11, 2004)