Young Norwegians show positive attitudes regarding road safety. However, about one-third of moped riders own a tuned moped.
Researchers at Institute of Transport Economics in Norway (TØI) have done a survey among approximately 800 moped and 1100 light motorcycle riders who had passed the licensing test in 2016.
Most riders get their license as soon as they reach the minimum age of 16 years. Only 15% of moped riders had more than two training lessons beyond the mandatory part, compared to 59% of light motorcycle riders.
The survey showed mainly positive attitudes regarding various road safety items and a low prevalence of risk-taking behaviour in traffic, except for speeding and moped tuning for increased power.
About one-third of moped riders owned a tuned moped. Light motorcycle riders, however, reported more speeding behaviour than moped riders. This could be related to a considerably larger proportion of males among light motorcycle riders than among moped riders.
Analyses of accident register data showed that number of crashes per vehicle per year has decreased considerably since 2004 for both mopeds and light motorcycles. However, as many as 22% of moped riders and 27% of light motorcycle riders are involved in crashes during their first year after getting the license.
Average annual driving distance is considerably larger for light motorcycles than for mopeds, so in terms of crashes per driving distance, the risk is highest for mopeds.
The Norwegian training curriculum for moped and light motorcycle riders was changed in 2017, and this report presents a pre-intervention study for assessing effects of the changes.
The report is written in Norwegian, but you can find an English summary here:
Evaluation of training for moped and light motorcycle riders. TØI Report 1616/2018.
Authors: Fridulv Sagberg, Ole Jørgen Johansson
Ole Jørgen Johansson