Fred, I believe your wrong about the laws are the same for mopeds as any other vehicle. Yes they have to abide by the laws of the road but whats strange is that though they are subject to the laws of the road they are not required to KNOW the laws of the road . Hence no NC requirement to have a drivers license. Outside the road laws are the laws that require us to have insurance, tags, registration and inspection. NC law requires none of these from a moped operator ... and dont forget to include they are not required to pass an eye exam or even to know road signs. I dont think they are required to read , just be able to sign their name to an ID card. They also can slip in with the rest of us being colorblind. O ' and dont let me forget to say though they are subject to pay traffic violation fines, they have no points to accrue where their license can be taken away, hence.... they dont have any license to have taken away ! They have no insurance premiums to increase with traffic violations such as the rest of the responsible world does. So with this said, I'd say no, the laws are not the same for mopeds.
I'm against bicycles on the road as well however they take up less room, can easily move off the road and because they are much slower than mopeds are easier to pass. However when bicycles are in large groups as you sometimes see, it makes it much more dangerous for them so thats another mystery to me why they ride in groups. The biggest difference between the two is that mopeds are allowed by law to intermingle with most secondary road traffic up to 30 mph, which in most cases is in 45 and 55 mph zones.
The obvious result is an impedance to the general flow of traffic and also will almost always cause those behind the moped to cross solid yellow lines which is against the law and definitely unsafe. Then you have these unlicensed drivers in the midst of city traffic where the speed is 20 mph and because most accidents happen at intersections... well you can figure out the rest of the story.
Its my understanding ( dont quote me ) from Rayne Brown who said she spoke with someone name Jason Saper who is in charge of such DOT concerns and the law is that when bicycles and mopeds are slowing traffic that they are required to move OFF the road. Believe me, I'm looking into this. Just today my dash cam caught this unpleasant sight. An 18 wheeler ( and a few others ) stuck behind a moped in 50 mph zone on Hwy 150.
http://www.pbase.com/kippercat/image/152822129