As a former italian 14-years-old, I can say that I did not perceive any inherent sense of danger driving a moped. If anything, I would say that a minicar would have prevented me from constantly zig-zaging between cars in the city traffic.

OTOH, a couple of moped accidents have quickly taught me to pay a lot of attention to other vehicles and to somehow anticipate their behavior. It's a risky but effective school.

As a parent of a current 14yo, I notice that her and her friends show almost no interest in mopeds or any form of autonomous transportation, while for us it was a must have - either you parents gave you one, or you kept relentlessly for fighting for it. I don't know what to make of it.

> I notice that her and her friends show almost no interest in mopeds or any form of autonomous transportation

Is this a broader thing? Are kids just not as interested in getting out of the house as they used to be? Less interested in being independent? Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and they're just more interested in being on TikTok.

> Are kids just not as interested in getting out of the house as they used to be? Less interested in being independent?

That's a thought that often crosses my mind, but I try not to say it out loud because it makes me feel like an old fart.

The more likely explanation is that your teenagers have some public transportation available, so they can go somewhere if they want to.

Public transportation was non existent for the parent 30 years ago. If you look at cities all around the world, most tubes and overground lines were constructed in the past few decades.

The quality of public transportation in my city has not changed in a relevant way in the past 20 years. My teenager spends way more time at home than I used to (there's the old fart!). The internet is definitely a more relevant change.

They don’t need a moped to “get out of the house”, meet their friends, or “see somewhere new”. They now have the internet for that.

I live near a university, so I would have to say no. Scooters tend to be ridden full throttle, limited only by the governor (which is often defeated) and the weight of the rider.

If anything, the enclosed body might make it more boring, and thus more likely to be driven slowly.