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.
Casting aside deep differences, moped dealers and their politically active opponents formally agreed yesterday to implement a nine-point plan aimed at one goal - reducing injuries to moped riders.
Oak Bluffs selectman Todd Rebello this week all but admitted that town officials have done a lousy job making moped dealers abide by town regulations, and selectmen agreed Tuesday night to improve local enforcement.
Just five days after a moped accident in Oak Bluffs killed a
Virginia woman, another accident yesterday in Edgartown has left
a 60-year-old moped rider from Florida in critical condition
with severe head injuries.
Two middle school teachers from Florida, Judy and Barnard Lorence, should be back in their classrooms getting ready for a new school year, but there's no chance of that now.
Convinced there's no way to make rental mopeds safe on the Vineyard, Oak Bluffs selectmen this week threw their support behind proposed state legislation that would require anyone renting a moped to have a motorcycle license.
Operators of rented mopeds suffered two serious accidents this week on the same stretch of Seaview avenue near Lola's Restaurant in Oak Bluffs. In both accidents, moped operators lost control, crossed the center line and crashed into oncoming auto traffic.
