A tragic accident last weekend has led to a renewed call to ban or restrict mopeds on the Vineyard. Meanwhile, two young women are recovering from injuries.
Two young New Hampshire women riding a rented moped sustained serious injuries after hitting a dump truck on Barnes Road early Saturday afternoon. Both are recovering.
According to Chapter 90 of Massachusetts General Laws on the operation of a low-speed vehicle in the state, a low-speed vehicle is a motor vehicle that cannot legally be operated at a speed greater than 25 miles per hour.
This week I witnessed a number of near accidents and arrived just after a fender bender in two different parking lots. It is the first time I have seen the signs reading, “Drive as if your children live here.” The delicate balance between everyone who shares the roads was upset this week by the tragic death of a 22-year-old man on a moped; three people in a pick-up were not at fault. My heart goes out to the family and friends of this young man and the loss they all must accept and learn to live with.
The driver of a moped was killed Wednesday afternoon in an accident on State Road involving a moped and a truck. The accident took place two days before the Fourth of July holiday as the Island was beginning to fill with people and traffic.
It was one of those sunlit, breezy exquisite Monday afternoons driving down State Road in light traffic from up-Island near Lambert’s Cove Road in West Tisbury. Through my windscreen I observed four rather burly young guys approaching me from Vineyard Haven on their obviously rented mopeds.
A New Jersey man was med-flighted to a Boston area hospital Friday after being injured when the moped he was operating collided with a Jeep on State Road in West Tisbury, police said.
According to a police report, Robert Czech, 47, of Clifton, N.J., sustained injuries after being ejected from his moped. His passenger, Emily McDonald, 25, of New York, N.Y., was also injured and taken to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, West Tisbury police Cpl. Garrison Vieira said Friday.
A forum at the Oak Bluffs School last night began with the findings
of a recent study on two-wheeled vehicles and ended in a lengthy
dialogue about the history, safety and future of mopeds on the Island.
Dr. Alan Hirshberg's year-long study of accidents involving
mopeds, bicycles and motorcycles found that most moped accident victims
are daytrippers to the Island who have received under seven minutes of
training.
Moped accident victims need more training - most have never driven a motorized two-wheeler before, and the average customer gets seven minutes of training at the rental shop. Moped crash victims tend to be short-term visitors to the Island, and they crash most frequently in August. More bicyclists are hurt each summer than moped drivers, but victims of moped accidents tend to be hurt far more seriously.
All-Island Selectmen Association Hears Emotional Appeal
To Pressure Boston to End Carnage on Island Roads
By JOSHUA SABATINI
After listening to a presentation by Sam Feldman of the Mopeds Are
Dangerous Committee, the All-Island Selectmen Association unanimously
decided to support legislation that would require a motorcycle license
to rent a moped.
