The overall aim of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the importance of parents in young moped riders’ behaviour in traffic. The results from the literature review show that parents play an important role in young people’s perceptions, attitudes, norms, and behaviours associated with moped driving. Parents can also get involved in different ways to help in improving their teenagers’ knowledge and behaviour in traffic. In general, the review show that parents need support in order to be able to take control, and they also need support from other parents. The main results of the survey show that parents have great faith in the teenager when it comes to their knowledge and behaviour in traffic. In general, the results show that moped driving is not a topic being discussed very much. Some parents have implemented restrictions and the most common ones are related to alcohol and the usage of a helmet. In this study, less than ten percent wanted some form of support from others. Those who need help do not to the same extent as the others, believe that their teenager behave properly in traffic and they also believe that they are more influenced by social media. The study also found that the perception of boys and girls differ. Girls are considered to be safer on the roads but despite this, they have more restrictions placed on them than boys. The results also show that there is a difference in perception which could be linked to the parents own sex. Women value the teen’s knowledge and behaviour in traffic higher than men. When it comes to boys, this difference is especially noticeable because men assume that the boys are not always as secure. In the family, women are talking more about risks in traffic than men are. The results from the interview study show that very few parents are in need of support when it comes to their children’s moped use. More detailed analyses of the interviews, however, reveals that parents would appreciate various forms of assistance, such as written information, training and/or information sessions as well as Internet-based parental forums. Implications of the current finding for the development of methods to increase parental commitment and engagement are presented. The study consists of three parts; a literature review, a survey and an interview study. In the survey, 440 parents of teenagers (who had passed their test for mopeds) participated. In the interview study, 10 of the parents who took part in the survey were interviewed. (Author/publisher)
Abstract