Moped crashes in Queensland
Keywords: Motorcyclists
ARSRPE
Submission Date: 2007
Abstract
Motor scooter and moped sales are booming, but we know little about their crash
involvement. In Queensland, most scooters are mopeds which can be ridden with a car
licence only. This paper begins by defining scooters and mopeds and discussing the
difficulties in identifying them in crash and other data bases. It then presents the results of
analyses of moped crashes identified from crash and registration data supplied by
Queensland Transport.
The registration data classed 227 vehicles in crashes as mopeds but further examination of
make and model information identified an additional 79 mopeds. The number of moped
crashes increased from 25 in 2001 to 97 in 2005, with larger percentage growth in crashes of
riders licensed in Queensland than elsewhere. The most common crash types were ?angle?
(37%) and ?fall from vehicle? (23%).
Moped crashes were more likely to occur in tourist areas, on weekdays and in low speed
zones than motorcycle crashes. The distributions of crash type and crash severity were
similar. Moped riders in crashes were much more likely than motorcycle riders to be female
(37.9% versus 7.2%), younger and hold an interstate (10.8% versus 1.3%) or overseas
licence (7.8% versus 0.7%).
The challenges in interpreting the results of the analyses of the crash data are discussed.