Renting mopeds to summer day trippers was a bad idea when it was first introduced on the Island more than three decades years ago. With surging traffic, it’s a worse idea today, and the time has come to phase out the moped rental business for good on the Vineyard.
Public sentiment to make moped rentals a thing of the past appears to be strong, as evidenced by the outpouring of comments on the Gazette website following a tragic accident in the early afternoon last Saturday when a single moped ridden by two young New Hampshire women collided with a dump truck on Barnes Road.
The women, both 19, were recovering this week, but one lost her leg in the collision and the other also suffered serious injury. And if the heart was not heavy enough following the accident, it came to light later that both are promising division one college lacrosse players.
And the ripple effect from this single accident didn’t end there. Consider the dump truck driver who was not at fault in the accident, but must nonetheless live with the consequences. Consider the girls’ families, who never imagined they were sending their daughters into danger. Consider the first responders to the scene at Barnes Road, who deserve our deepest respect and thanks for the often-wrenching work they do.
That there have been blessedly few serious moped accidents in recent years has only tended to mask the menace caused by inexperienced riders piloting slow-moving vehicles on unfamiliar roads.
And every time an accident does occur, the lid comes off years of pent-up frustration among Islanders who feel they should be banned.
The issue was front and center on the Vineyard in the 1990s when community activist and Chilmark resident Sam Feldman led a Mopeds Are Dangerous movement.
Although the early objective to ban mopeds was never realized, the group accomplished much, among other things pushing to successfully to enact better safety measures, including a requirement for instructional videos and training sessions at the dealerships.
Then in 2006 a New York city woman was killed in a moped accident in West Tisbury, and old wounds were reopened. The business owner, since deceased, who rented the moped to the woman was deeply conscience-struck at the time. “It’s tearing me up inside,” he told the Gazette.
In recent years, the moped rental business has dwindled of its own accord. Reporting by the Gazette this week found there are now fewer than four hundred mopeds available for rent, compared with about one thousand more than a decade ago.
But that’s still too many.
Leaders in Oak Bluffs and Tisbury, the only two towns where mopeds are rented, should take a fresh look at this marginal business and find a responsible way to close it down. In deference to business owners who have invested in a legal enterprise, this might involve gradually reducing the number of licenses issued and creating a sunset clause for the Island’s few remaining moped rental operations.
The Mopeds are Dangerous movement of the 1990s ran up against legislative challenges in trying to ban mopeds entirely from the Island, but in fact the worst of the problem would be solved if there were no place to rent them.
The core issue is tourists, often with no experience driving two-wheeled motorized vehicles and with no knowledge of island roads and geography. These are people on vacation, out to have a good time, usually dressed for a summer day in shorts, sandals or even lighter garb such as a bathing suit and T-shirt. Looking to save money, they double up on vehicles built for one and with insufficient power to accelerate out of a bad situation. Add heavy summer traffic congestion on narrow, sandy Island roads and you have a near-certain recipe for accidents.
Thankfully most moped mishaps are minor. But not all, as Islanders were painfully reminded last week.
How many more moped accidents will there be before the Island takes action?
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