Rising misuse of mini-motos is a growing concern for LARSOA

A staggering rise in the sales of mini-motos is alarming road safety officers who are increasingly concerned about the safety of youngsters caught up in the miniature motor cycle craze sweeping the country.

Although marketed as 'toys' these vehicles have loud engines and can reach speeds of up to 60mph. Police and local authority road safety officers have received thousands of complaints about them over the last year.

According to the Motor Cycle Industry Association, sales of mini-moto type vehicles have risen from 10,000 in 2002 to an estimated 100,000 in 2005, although police believe there could be even more out on the streets.

It is illegal to ride unregistered mini-motos and other similar vehicles on pavements, in parks and on public highways. Offenders can receive points on their licences - even children not old enough to have a licence and their vehicles can be taken off them and crushed.

Simon Ettinghausen, Chair of LARSOA, says: "Despite enforcement action and awareness raising of the anti-social problems, misuse of these vehicles is increasing at an alarming rate. It is dangerous as many youngsters ride them without helmets or the proper safety equipment.

"They also cause misery to communities where there is a constant fear of being mown down by one or having to listen to the noise."

The use of mini-motos on the highway is illegal and no youngster appears to receive any formal training on their use. These machines are often far more powerful than the parents realise.

However, one local authority has embarked on a positive campaign to target mini-moto owners. Durham County Council has joined forces with Durham Constabulary in an innovative scheme to provide a safe and legal way for youngsters to ride their mini-motos.

Alan Kennedy, a LARSOA spokesman in the northern region explains: "There is nowhere in County Durham for young people to legally ride their mini-motos unless they have permission to do so on private land.

"Thousands of these vehicles have been sold and we can't ignore how popular they are. However, nor can we ignore the danger and nuisance they cause so we decided there was a need to tackle the problem positively alongside the strict enforcement action the police will take if they catch anyone breaking the law."

Sergeant Bob Brown from Durham Constabulary believes this is the right attitude and together with the Council's road safety officers they are planning to launch a club with a first event in April to be held in the car park of County Hall. In the Durham force's area alone in one year no fewer than 600 youngsters had been issued with formal police warnings after being caught riding illegally.

Police officers from the motorcycle division have been trained by Auto Cycle Union - Britain's governing body of Motorcycle sport, as official mini-moto trainers so they can provide a safe and structured environment for riding.

Sgt Brown says: "Mini-motos cause a lot of problems for us because there are a lot of parents out there buying them for their children and then they have nowhere to ride them. But children do like motorbikes and want to ride them. If we can provide them with a safe environment to do so it may help reduce the problem of them riding them illegally.

"Also we get the chance to make sure youngsters get the road safety message. Council Road Safety Officers are telling us that the younger we can get teach road safety the better so this is an innovative way of dealing with the issue of mini-motos and getting to young people through their interest while moving them away from where they can cause nuisance to residents and are breaking the law."

Alan adds: "We can teach youngsters the importance of wearing safety equipment such as crash helmets and teach them riding skills which will be an investment in their future road use."

Youngsters taking part will need to join ACU for £5 a year and each session will cost £2. The intention is that if the first session is successful, more will be organised at different venues around the county.

Simon Ettinghausen concludes: "As a professional organisation for local authority road safety teams, we will watch this scheme with interest to see if it is effective and, if it is, whether other authorities around the country could benefit from replicating it."

ABOUT LARSOA

LARSOA is a national road safety organisation representing road safety officers (RSOs) employed in local government across the UK.

LARSOA represents 185 of the 200 eligible local authorities across the UK, assisting RSOs to fulfil their statutory role to reduce the number and severity of road casualties through education, training and publicity programmes.

LARSOA publishes an up-to-date round-up of road safety news from across the UK on its website www.larsoa.org.uk .

LARSOA also aims to influence national debate - government policy and action together with public opinion. The association works to achieve national recognition for road safety issues, commissions research into behaviour which contributes to road collisions and develops national road safety campaigns.

The association assists in identifying achievable national targets to reduce the number of collisions on the country's roads.