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.
Mopeds
2014
July 3, 2014
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.
2012
August 6, 2012
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.
July 31, 2012
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.
2008
July 7, 2008
Island police yesterday reported a busy but relatively smooth Fourth of July holiday weekend.
The biggest story, of course, was the devastating fire on Main street in Vineyard Haven that destroyed the Cafe Moxie restaurant and caused extensive damage to the landmark Bunch of Grapes bookstore, which cast a pall for many over the usually celebratory Independence Day weekend.
2006
July 6, 2006
Sunday's moped accident that claimed the life of a 41-year-old
New York city woman has reopened old wounds for Islanders who want to
see stronger safety standards for the two-wheeled vehicles, and others
who want them banned from the Vineyard altogether.
