Accidents, aberrant behaviours, and speeding of young moped riders

Moped riders, particularly youngsters, are amongst the highest risk group in traffic. We used an adapted version of the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire to examine why moped riders are often involved in traffic accidents. We conducted a questionnaire study among 146 young moped riders in the Netherlands. We found that aberrant behaviour of moped riders can indeed be classified as errors, lapses, and violations. Accidents involvement appeared not to be significantly related to errors, lapses, and violations. As hypothesised, moped riders were more likely to speed, and had a stronger intention to disobey speed limits when they have a positive attitude towards speeding, and when they think that others expect them to speed. Perceived control did not affect self-reported speeding and intention to speed. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study.