Traffic legislation and safety in Europe concerning the moped - Swov

Min. age for riding
% deaths 14-18 year-olds as % of all killed mopedists
14 years 25%, 31% and 40% (resp. Italy, Spain and France)
16 years 39% and 51% (resp. Belgium and Netherlands)
Table 2.7. Percentage of deaths in the age group 14-18 year-olds and 16-18
year-olds as % of all killed mopedists
These figures don’t give the impression that an early start with moped riding
at the age of 14 results in more deaths between 14 and 18 years when
compared with a start at 16. A further analysis of these data will be given in
Chapter 6 'Discussion’ (Section 6.1).
2.5. Crash and behavioural studies in some countries
2.5.1. Denmark (crash study)
In 1994 a new type of moped was introduced in Denmark, the 'scooter-45'.
In 1999 the number of registered scooters in Denmark increased from 0 to
nearly 60,000.
The ‘old’ type of moped in Denmark is a so-called light-moped with a
maximum speed of 30 km/h and a minimum age of 16 years for riding.
The new scooter has a motor of max. 50 cc and the legal vehicle speed limit
is 45 km/h. The requirements for riding the scooter are severe in Denmark: a
minimum age of 18 years and a driver's licence are necessary (the same as
those for a motorcycle or a car). The low price of the scooter makes the
purchase attractive. As was mentioned for other countries, also in Denmark
it is very easy to tune up the scooter. With only a simple modification of the
engine a maximum speed of 70 km/h or more can be reached.
Two studies were carried out into the development in crashes of this new
scooter type.
1. The first was the study of the Odense University Hospital (Barsi,
Faergemann & Larsen, 2002). The aim of the study was to examine the
consequences of the introduction of the scooter-45 and to make a
comparison with the 30 km/h-moped and the motorcycle. The study was
carried out during 1996 - 2000 and was concentrated at the Odense
University Hospital. In the study a significant rise in the annual crash rate
for both mopeds and scooter-45s was found. This rate is the number of
traffic casualties per 100,000 inhabitants of Odense. For scooter-45s
and motorcycles, the highest crash rates were observed in the age
groups 20 – 29 years. For mopeds, this was in the age group up to 19
years. The number of serious casualties was 8% for both scooter-45 and
motorcycle, and 5% for moped crashes.
2. The second study was made by the Danish Transport Research Institute
(Lund, 2002). The crash analysis revealed that most of the scooter-45
drivers involved in a crash, had 'only' a car licence. However, the type of
driving licence can only explain small differences in the crash rates.
Speed measurements showed that the mean speed is close to 50 km/h.
This means that more than half of the 45–moped drivers are speeding.
The analysis showed almost the same crash characteristics as an earlier
study. Risk calculations show that the crash risk of a 45-moped driver
16 SWOV publication R-2004-10