Moped injuries among adolescents: a significant forgotten problem?

The study's objective is to investigate the size of the problem of moped injuries among children and young adults.

A comprehensive prospective injury registration has been carried out at the Central Hospital and Emergency Clinic in Rogaland county in Norway. Out of this system we selected cases of traffic injuries occurring from 1990 to 1996 among a defined population aged 0-24 years and analyzed incidence of traffic injury by the type of transport of the victim.

Moped injuries represented 9% (85 per 100,000 person-years) of all (hospitalized and non-hospitalized) traffic related injuries among people under 25 years and 44% of all cases among persons aged 16 and 17 years. Moped injuries represented 13% of hospitalized cases altogether and 50% of hospitalized traffic injuries among persons aged 16 and 17 years. The overall male:female moped injury incidence rate ratio was 2.7 (95% CI 2.0-3.7). Police records captured only 40% of the moped injuries overall. 43% of moped injuries were lone accidents and 40% occurred in a moped-car collision.

Moped injuries represent a major source of serious traffic injury among older children. This risk seems to be partially overlooked. Significantly higher attention seems to be warranted to reduce the risk of moped injury in populations where the moped is a popular means of transport among older children.