A SAFETY ANALYSIS OF THE MOPED

The moped, as a contemporary conveyance, has not been substantially investigated since the liberalization of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards in October 1974. There is a distinct lack of knowledge concerning the safety aspects of the moped used in the United States of America. This investigation initiated a random survey of 100 moped owner-operators in order to detemrine the operators' demographics, moped uses and safety practices. Contemporary literature of motorcycle and bicycle research was used to indicate the relative importance of the survey findings. The survey proved to be a good indicator of the rider practices, knowledge and usage. The typical moped rider in Southern California, as indicated by the survey, is a 17 year old male student with an automoblie driver's license or learner's permit. Seventy-seven percent of the respondents use the moped for their primary means of transportation. The moped will most probably increase in popularity because of the high level of satisfaction observed in the survey (97 percent). The moped seems to provide simple, economical, short distance transportation for most of these owners. The survey indicated a startling lack of rider safety knowledge as demonstrated by the 79 percent who failed to answer the Class 4 motorcycle questions correctly. There is a lack of rider knowledge and a lack of proper driver education facilities. There is a need for expanding rider safety knowledge through driver education. The need for minor changes to the moped in order to make it more suitable for urban traffic environments was made evident by the results of the survey. The need for minor changes in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and the enforcement of others was also made evident through the results of the survey.

• Corporate Authors:

  California State Unviersity, Los Angeles

  5151 State Unviersity Drive, Department of Health & Safety
  Los Angeles, CA  United States  90032
• Authors:
  • Evans, M L
• Publication Date: 1977-6

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 90 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Driver licensing; Driver training; Economic factors; Gender; Mopeds; Safety; Safety equipment; Standards; Students; Surveys; Urban areas
• Uncontrolled Terms: Safety features
• Subject Areas: Economics; Education and Training; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00176797
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Safety Council Safety Research Info Serv
• Report/Paper Numbers: Thesis
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 19 1978 12:00AM