In the early hours of one morning, to get home quickly, Xia, an employee of a certain company who had just finished his night shift, drove his electric bicycle onto the inner ring expressway in the city center, intending to take a shortcut on his way back. During the journey, Xia collided with a light truck, resulting in rib fractures and multiple superficial skin abrasions across his body. The traffic police department determined that both parties shared equal responsibility for the accident.

Xia then submitted a work-related injury recognition application to the human resources and social security department. The department issued a decision stating that Xia's injuries did not meet the relevant provisions of the Work-Related Injury Insurance Regulations and thus were not recognized as work-related injuries. Xia disagreed and filed an administrative lawsuit with the court, requesting the revocation of the aforementioned decision.

After the court trial, it was found that relevant laws and regulations clearly prohibit non motorized vehicles, motorcycles, tractors, low-speed cargo vehicles, three wheeled vehicles, wheeled special machinery vehicles and other vehicles from entering the inner ring expressway. Moreover, at the entrance of the inner ring expressway where Xia entered, there are clear and prominent traffic signs prohibiting pedestrians, non motorized vehicles, etc. from entering. Xia, knowing that electric bicycles are prohibited vehicles, still illegally entered the expressway and violated basic traffic safety knowledge. The return route chosen for the pursuit of convenient transportation does not have legal rationality and does not fall under the "reasonable route" required for work-related injury identification.

Therefore, Xia's lawsuit request was rejected and the decision of the human resources and social security department not to recognize work-related injuries was supported. After the first instance verdict, Xia did not file an appeal, and the verdict has now come into effect.

Employees who are injured in a six way traffic accident while commuting must meet three conditions to be recognized as work-related injuries:

1.Time belongs to commuting.

2. Meet the requirements of "reasonable time" and "reasonable route" in terms of space.

3. In terms of accident liability, it belongs to the injury caused by a traffic accident that is not the main responsibility of the individual.

It should be noted that the perceived shortest distance, least time consumption, and convenient transportation in daily commuting do not necessarily equate to a legally reasonable route. The legally recognized reasonable route is usually a legal route, and expressways that prohibit the passage of non motorized vehicles are clearly not legally recognized reasonable routes.

Urban expressways implement traffic management in accordance with highway standards, and electric bicycles are non motorized vehicles and are strictly prohibited from entering. Riding an electric bicycle illegally on a highway is a serious traffic violation with significant safety hazards, and it is clearly not a reasonable route for employees to commute. If accidents and injuries caused by such illegal passage are identified as work-related injuries, it will form a negative judicial orientation, indirectly condoning the public to ignore traffic regulations for the sake of convenience, and not conducive to guiding citizens to establish a sense of law-abiding travel. Commuting to and from work should strictly comply with road traffic safety laws and regulations, and choose reasonable routes for travel.

This article is transferred from the WeChat official account "Shandong Gaofa". Thank you!