A review of national policies for electric bicycles in China

Despite the growing popularity of electric bicycles (e-bikes) in China, there has been limited systematic evaluation of national e-bike safety policies. This study aims to comprehensively review national e-bike policies issued between 2003 and 2025 and assess them using an adapted analytical framework informed by the World Health Organization (WHO) Safe System approach and the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030. Policies were mapped across four substantive road safety domains and four implementation domains. This study retrieved policy documents from the websites of the State Council and 75 affiliated ministries. A total of 24,227 records were identified, of which 104 policies met the inclusion criteria. The number of policies issued notably increased after 2015, with a shift from single agency to multi-sectoral collaboration as part of China’s 14 th Five-Year Plan period. Most policies focused on the “safe vehicles” domain, particularly enforcement related to product standards and technical specifications. In contrast, fewer policies addressed the “safe users” and “safe roads” domains. No directly relevant national policy content on “post-crash response” specific to e-bikes was identified. Evidence on the implementation and effectiveness of these policies remains limited. Future policy efforts should go beyond standard setting by addressing the limited attention to user behavior, enforcement, and post-crash response identified in current policies. This could be achieved through targeted enforcement and helmet-use legislation, expanded public education programs, and inter-agency coordination to strengthen post-crash preparedness.