Moped Rider Violation Behavior and Moped Safety at Intersections in China

The study identified moped rider violation behavior leading to conflicts and crashes to help guide future countermeasure development. Mopeds (electric bicycles and light motorcycles) are a commonly used personal transportation mode in China, and moped crashes are increasing rapidly. This increase in crashes may be attributable to certain traffic behavior of moped riders. Video recordings were used to acquire data on moped riders' violation behavior and the violation behavior of bicycle, tricycle, and motorcycle riders at signalized intersections. One hundred twenty-five min of video were recorded from 10 intersections, and rider behavior was coded from 1,455 vehicles. Video data showed that moped riders committed more violations than did riders of bicycles, tricycles, and electric bicycles and that moped riders who engaged in violation behavior at intersections were involved in more frequent and more severe conflicts than were moped riders who did not engage in violation behavior. Typical moped violation behavior included running red lights, riding in improper directions, waiting at improper positions, riding in improper lanes, and overloading. Violation behavior was closely associated with the traffic environment (traffic facilities, traffic flow, traffic signal status, and other riders' behavior), but not with either the vehicle's characteristics or the rider's characteristics. This difference suggests that countermeasures related to the traffic environment would be more effective than those related to either vehicle or rider characteristics. Countermeasures within the areas of traffic regulation, traffic management, traffic facilities, vehicle management, and rider education are proposed.