Unfortunately the article left us hanging. It just stated facts and didn't elaborate on the cause of these accidents. They could do to separate the statistics by country as some countries are so jammed packed with cars and mopeds accidents may be more frequent. There are lot of daredevil like antics done on mopeds that cause ER visits, are these included with the statistics ? I would also like to see statistics separate categories for city vs rural riding. Get on youtube look at cycle accidents and most of the videos seem to be from crowded cities were waves of scooters are traveling down streets. Then another category for night vs day riding and inclement vs good weather.
I do see about 75% of the moped riders in my town going about with dark clothing and no protective gear. Heck, some don't even wear the required eye protection.
For the summer, I just purchased a bright orange Nexgen Double-Mesh Jacket with padding (I removed the Icon field armor though). I just feel too exposed in a bare neon T-shirt.
I believe being visible is a big part of the equation of safe moped riding, knowing the road, approaching side streets and intersections cautiously and trying to avoid rush hour and social networking traffic. Left turns can be tricky if cars are around and I may just get in the habit of going to the shoulder while making a left turn to avoid being rear ended giving way to a right turning car at an intersection.
An extra allotment of HP would go a long way though to making mopeds safer providing the moped is ridden by a mature rider.
We just had 2 fatal moped accidents here in Connecticut: one rider was on the wrong side of the road and the other was driving at night and hit a parked car on the side of the road. One motorcycle fatality where the rider was rear ended by an under the influence cager.
Sometimes I feel moped riders don't take the ride seriously when it comes to safety given the bike requires no registration. Two years ago, a girl at the park I work at let a co-worker (who never drove a moped before) drive her bike and she crashed (another ER statistic). I'll avoid driving at night or in the rain if I can. I plan on using my new scoot for a work commute at some point and do fear me having to rush to work where I start to let my defensive guard down (so its obvious that giving yourself extra time for a commute can add a factor of safety - enjoy the ride).
Some good riding tips here:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRccyfIjVpu_MW3rO5zN73A/videos
