The Moped By Brenda Williams At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

The moped is a form of motorized scooter or bicycle that does not move as fast as a motorcycle or motor vehicle but still gets the job done. Mopeds are popular in the United States and all throughout Europe. Most mopeds are built having two to three wheels, some have human powered pedals combined with a motorized engine, which in turn is called a Hybrid Moped. Some moped laws do not require the same driving age as motorcycles and other motor vehicles so mopeds have become wildly popular among the youth of Europe and the United States.

Mopeds were originally designed and released to the public in the 1950s. The early version of mopeds was a normal bicycle with a helper motor attached to either the front or rear wheel that allowed for propulsion without a whole lot of human effort. The term moped came about in 1952 and was coined by Swedish journalist Harald Nielsen. He combined the two terms motor and pedal, while dropping a couple of letters to form the word moped.

The moped did not become popular in the United States until the mid-1970s. Most states within the country had different restrictions and laws against mopeds which prohibited them from being used on open roadways for public transportation instead of normal motor vehicles. Mopeds, in their early days, had incredibly small engines and did not create enough power to exceed more than 40 miles per hour. Despite the low amount of speed mopeds were known for their fuel efficiency. A moped could run on one tank of gas for 220 miles at a time. By 1977, over 200,000 people within the United States had owned a moped. Mopeds quickly became a popular form of transportation when the country was suffering through its fuel crisis sparked by OAPEC.

Once the fuel crisis began to wane and vehicle manufacturing companies began offering newer, more fuel efficient cars, the moped’s popularity began to fade and they almost became irrelevant on the roadways of the United States. There are still moped clubs and associations across the country that are devoted to promoting mopeds and their effectiveness and usefulness on the roads. Those clubs are the Moped Army and the Moped Riders Association. The latter is an international association that is dedicated to sharing information among riders and scheduling riding events across the world.

As with riding a motorcycle, bicycle or other form of motorized scooter, all moped riders should always wear a helmet for their safety and should not make sharp turns or sudden turns for the fear of tipping or rolling the moped over onto the driver. Always obey all the rules of the road as you would when driving a motor vehicle or motorcycle. Moped drivers have to follow all the same rules and regulations that other motor vehicle drivers have to follow and are subject to the same fines and penalties that all other drivers are subject to when breaking the law or driving illegally on the roads.

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