Motor scooters and mopeds: Are increasing sales translating into increased crashes?

Recently, sales of new motor scooters and mopeds have increased markedly. Little is known about the crash involvement of scooters and mopeds and whether they are safer than other motorcycles. Difficulties in defining motor scooters and mopeds and identifying them in crash and other data bases have hindered research. This paper reviews recent research and analyses the nature and extent of moped and motorcycle crashes in the State of Queensland, Australia. Analyses of merged crash and registration data found that the number of moped crashes increased from 25 in 2001 to 97 in 2005. Most crashes resulted in hospitalisation (43%) or medical treatment (38%) and occurred between 6am and 6pm, on weekdays in low speed areas. Overall, 50.8% of crashes occurred at intersections and 32.3% were single vehicle crashes. The most common crash types were collisions between vehicles travelling in the same direction (24.8%), loss of control on a straight road (23.1%) and collisions between the moped and another vehicle on an adjacent approach to an intersection (18.2%). The ratio of motorcycle to moped crashes was about 19:1 but moped crashes increased at a greater rate during 2001-2005 (260% versus 71%). Moped crashes were more likely to occur in tourist areas, on weekdays and in low speed zones than motorcycle crashes. The distributions of crash severity were similar. Moped crashes more often involved loss of control on a straight road (23.1% versus 12.7%) while motorcycle crashes more often involved loss of control on a curve (13.6% versus 5.0%). Moped riders in crashes were much more likely than motorcycle riders to be female (37.9% versus 7.2%) and younger and hold an interstate (10.8% versus 1.3%) or overseas licence (7.8% versus 0.7%). The interpretation of these data and its implications for licensing and other countermeasures are discussed