Is the safety of the youngsters threatened by the police?

Constant fear and worry could be a part of everyday life for many parents because the “Sulimoped” (School scooter) program carried out by the Hungarian National Police. The program will largely increase the chances for serious or even fatal accidents among young people – the Clean Air Action Group (CAAG) drew attention to this in a letter to the Minister of Interior, Sándor Pintér.

In the Sulimoped program, secondary school students can get a free driving license for scooters. However, many studies manifested, that scooters are highly dangerous in the traffic. According to data from England the rate of serious and fatal accidents are much higher among the teenagers who are using scooters than among the ones who are walking, bicycling or even driving a car.

Usually scooters are also a lot more polluting than other vehicles. The hydrocarbon emission of an average internal combustion scooter is thousand times worse than that of a truck and it emits hundred times as much carcinogenic benzene than a car.

Due to these reasons the Clean Air Action Group (CAAG) asks the Minister of Interior to stop the Sulimoped program immediately and start an educational program to support safe biking. Bicycles have the same advantages in the traffic as scooters: door-to-door transport and just a small space to store it. But bikes are not harmful for the environment, less risky to use it in the traffic and with the regular physical movement it even makes its users healthier.