Studies on moped and motorcycle accidents

Only for France and the Netherlands are there studies on both moped and motorcycle accidents.

The French study on moped accidents used all moped fatalities for 1994-1995 [10]. They found:

• Equal number of moped fatalities on built-up and non built-up roads
• Twice as many fatalities between intersections (as at intersections) on both built-up and non built-up roads, of which almost one in three in a curve
• 32% fatalities in single vehicle accidents on built-up roads, compared to 15% on non built-up roads.

The other French study is more recent and based on all motorcycle fatalities for 2002-2003 [15], with the following results:

• 60% motorcycle fatalities on non built-up roads, of which 25% at intersections, against 50% at intersections on built-up roads
• 30% fatalities in single vehicle accidents and 40% in collision with a passenger car

The collisions with a passenger car can be further divided into:

• 50% at intersection, 32% of the cars making a left turn with the motorcyclist on the same road, 20% with car coming from side road
• 12% between intersections with car and motorcycle in the same direction, with 7% motorcycle hitting the back of the car
• 33% between intersections with car and motorcycle from opposite directions, with 10% motorcycle on left side of road
• 5% dangerous manoeuvres by car driver such as turning, backing etc.

A comparison of the two studies shows more fatal accidents on non built-up roads for motorcyclists than for moped riders; large proportions of accidents between intersections, particularly for mopeds on built-up roads. Furthermore it is interesting to see the higher proportion of single vehicle accidents on built–up roads than on non built-up roads for moped fatalities.

The Dutch moped study is based on a sample of 1054 moped accident resulting in hospital admissions in 1993 [39]. In summary:

• Twice as many accidents on built-up roads
• 20% single vehicle accidents, most of them in between intersections
• 60% collisions with a car of which more than two third at intersections
• At intersections about 50% of the car drivers (coming from a side road or turning left or right) should have waited for the moped rider.

A similar study was reported for motorcycle accidents: 926 motorcycle accidents resulting in hospital admissions in the Netherlands in 1993 [40]. In summary:

• Equal numbers of accidents on built-up and non built-up roads
• 27% single vehicle accidents on non built-up areas as compared to 17% built-up
• 60% collisions with a car, on non built-up roads about equally often at intersections and road sections but on built-up roads more often at intersections
• At intersections about 50% of the car drivers coming from a side road should have waited for the motorcyclist and another 20% turned left in front of an oncoming motorcycle
• In 80% of all collisions with a car at intersections the car driver had seen the motorcycle too late or not at all; on road sections this was the case in 60% of the collisions with a car
• On built-up roads about 40% of the motorcyclists were exceeding the speed limit before colliding with a car, in other situations this percentage was much lower.

Again the proportion of accidents on non built-up roads is higher for motorcyclists than for moped riders. Compared to France there were relatively more accidents on built-up roads for both moped and motorcycle. But it must be remembered that the French figures are based on fatalities and thus on more severe injuries than the Dutch studies. Apart from this, there are striking similarities in results for all four studies.