What are the risks for (light-)moped riders in Dutch traffic?

Answer

The risk for (light-)moped riders to sustain fatal or serious injury is very large compared to other modes of transport, in the Netherlands. Per billion kilometres travelled about 65 (light-)moped riders died in traffic in the Netherlands (period 2010-2014) and almost 3,000 were seriously injured (period 2005-2009;[i] see Figure 3). This means that the fatality rate is similar to that of motorcyclists and many times higher than that of other modes of transport. Between 2010 and 2014, the risk of a fatal crash was 30 times higher for (light-)moped riders than for drivers. The risk of being seriously injured is many times higher for (light-)moped riders than for any other mode of transport.

Figure 3. The fatality rate and (serious) injury rate(casualties per distance travelled) in the Netherlands for various modes of transport, averaged over 5 year periods. Sources: CBS and SWOV: calculated numbers of serious road injuries based on BRON and LMR.

It is impossible to distinguish between the risks of moped riders and the risks of light-moped riders; the reason being that no (sufficiently) reliable distribution is made in either mobility data or in the crash registration.


[i] The injury rate is available only until 2009; in later years the distribution of serious road injuries by mode of transport is not reliable.

Part of fact sheet

Moped and light-moped riders

Moped and light-moped riders are at relatively high risk of being a crash casualty.

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