It is not often that a new vehicle is introduced, and for this reason alone it is an interesting subject of research. Having been. asked by the Minister of Transport and Waterways of The Netherlands to give its views in the form of advice, regarding the likely consequences upon road safety of introducing a low-speed moped, the Institute for Road Safety Research SWOV was therefore glad to comply with this request. But the condition that the report had to be made within three months of the request, was a major limiting factor. In such a short time it is impossible to carry out thorough scientific research, and resort has to be had to data already available or else obtainable at short notice. This limitation was all the more important for this advice because few of the data really required were available in an adequate or reliable form. This applies particularly to statistics of the proportion of cyclists and moped-riders among road users. It therefore proved to be necessary to arrange interviews specially for these investigations which would at the same time provide an opportunity to find out something more about potential low-speed moped users. Since little time was available, these interviews, however, were of limited scope. Nevertheless, an effort has been made even with this somewhat sketchy information to express an opinion about the likely effect of the low-speed moped on road safety. It must be stressed, however, that this opinion applies only within the peripheral conditions stated in SWOV's terms of reference: that is to say that this vehicle must be regarded as an ordinary moped (conform the Dutch law) but subject to several different rules: (a) its top speed .is 20 kms/hr; (b) the rider and passenger are released from the obligation to wear crash helmets. Otherwise, the rider is subject to the same rules as the ordinary moped rider in The Netherlands; he will have to be at least 16 years of age. In this advisory report some opinions are expressed on a number of these peripheral conditions, especially some of the rules of conduct and the user's release from the obligation to wear a crash helmet.
Samenvatting