Traffic legislation and safety in Europe concerning the moped - Swov

5.4.2. Inexperience of mopedists in France
commission. Half of the organisations were against it (it is too expensive
and/or it is a barrier for buying a moped) and half were in favour of it.
In Section 2.5.3 it is mentioned that in France mopeds are more often
borrowed from the owner than other types of two-wheelers (30% of the
cases). The researchers are making the connection that due to this
phenomenon, the mopedist does not necessarily have sufficient driving
experience. From crash analysis, researchers found that inexperience of
mopedists is no doubt a cause of crashes. Turning is a type of manoeuvre
which is particularly mentioned as being related to this inexperience of
mopedists (Carré & Filou, 1994).
According to the results of the questionnaires in France, a training and
practical test is obliged, but it the training and test only have a short duration
of three hours.
5.4.3. The effect of the practical test for mopedists (the Netherlands)
5.5. Obligatory helmet use
5.5.1. Result of the questionnaires
Effectiveness of the measure
For the Dutch situation a calculation was made of the effect of a practical
test in terms of the number of casualties saved. One can say that the effect
of a practical test on crash reduction is not known; the estimation is that the
effect will be low. An assessment indicates that a larger effect is to be
expected of raising the barrier for buying a moped. If a test is compulsory,
fewer potential mopedists will buy a moped. The assumption is a total
effectiveness of 10% for this barrier effect, as well as for the practical test.
Reduction of the number of casualties among mopedists
The number of casualties is a total of 30 deaths and 1177 in-patients among
the 16 and 17 year old riders and passengers of (light-)mopeds and their
crash opponents. An effectiveness of 10% gives a saving of 3 deaths and
118 in-patients.
The questionnaires' results (see Section 2.1 and Table 2.1) show that only in
the Netherlands there is no compulsory helmet use for light-mopeds (max.
25 km/h). For the Dutch situation it was calculated how many casualties can
be saved if all young light-mopedists use a helmet.
5.5.2. The effect of the helmet use for light-mopedists (the Netherlands)
If the wearing a helmet is mandatory, there will be some mutations in the use
of the mode of transport. The assumption is made that 25% of the lightmopedists
will continue to ride a light-moped and will wear a helmet. 60% of
the light-mopedists will choose a moped, and the final 15% will choose the
bicycle or public transport.
38 SWOV publication R-2004-10