The safety of powered two-wheelers in the Netherlands : some topical points of attention in the limelight.

Riders and passengers of powered two-wheelers are among the most vulnerable road users. In relation to the distance travelled the number of casualties among riders of powered two-wheelers is greater than for other modes of transport. Although a trend towards fewer fatalities may be observed, the number of serious road injuries does not decline at all or only slightly. There are many different categories of powered two-wheelers. In traffic it is difficult to distinguish between the types, which is contrary to the Sustainable Safety principle of predictability (Wegman & Aarts, 2005). For example, there is no clear distinction between mopeds and light mopeds; this is especially the case for the scooter-type models. Vehicles that look practically the same, may be a motorcycle, a moped or a light moped. At the exterior the only distinguishing feature is the licence plate, but this is only visible from behind. The fact that powered two-wheelers from different categories look the same could encourage a helmet not always being worn as the mandatory helmet use is not the same for all categories. Vehicles that look extremely different, e.g. a scooter-type moped and a (powered) quad may, on the other hand, be part of the same category of powered two-wheelers. This report gives an overview of the various powered two-wheelers, discusses a number of road safety issues, and explores the ways to correct these. The issues were mainly selected based on their topicality in the Netherlands (e.g. political concern about the increasing numbers of microcars and moped riders who do not have a licence) and the availability of data. This resulted in the following research questions: 1. Do motorcyclists have a higher risk in springtime? 2. Is the microcar becoming increasingly popular, especially among young road users, and does this present a road safety problem? 3. Is the light moped becoming more popular and what is the road safety effect? 4. Has the number of moped riders without a licence been increasing since the practical riding test was introduced? While this report was being written, it became apparent that the available information about crashes, size of the vehicle fleet, and mobility — for the category powered two-wheelers in particular — is far from ideal. The availability and the quality of the data are discussed in an appendix and we indicate what can and what cannot be concluded on the basis of this data. These restrictions are allowed for in the results that are presented below.