Mopeds Are Dangerous

Thursday, August 4 2016 - 3:00pm

<p>Renting mopeds to summer day trippers was a bad idea when it was first introduced on the Island more than three decades years ago.</p>

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?

Comments

Several times you mention the

Freddy Jackson Edgartown

Several times you mention the island's traffic burden without identifying it as the main problem. The island residents have chosen to make mopeds the enemy - encouraged by a bumper-sticker campaign which I have seen nowhere else in the country - without disincentivizing the daily arrival of hundreds of vehicles.

I am far more troubled by the sight of little kids biking in Edgartown streets, because they are not allowed to use the sidewalks; or physically mismatched couples renting tandem bicycles, clearly for the first time; or the inconsiderate, frequently dangerous behavior of impatient drivers. I have seen SUVs cross double-yellow lines in order to bypass groups of moped riders.

Why cite mopeds and the few businesses which rent them as the main issue? Mopeds are in fact no more dangerous than any other form of motorized transport. In fact, when used carefully, they provide a fun way to see the island. Any motorized vehicle requires of its drivers focus and attention, without distraction.

Any loss of life or limb is tragic. This is especially true of traffic accidents, which are nearly always easily avoided. But your editorial points to relatively few serious injuries, while brushing that fact off with a rhetorical statement to the effect that the low numbers of accidents "mask the menace" - your choice of words - of moped renters.

Why not encourage more bus riders? With additional ridership, and the expansion of the fleet, the MVTA could become a truly excellent system, that would reduce congestion and therefore much of the stress that is such an intrinsic part of traffic frustration and accidents.

To conclude, your article is illogical, both in premise and in conclusion, and too emotional. As far as I can tell, the business owners who rent out mopeds carefully follow island-imposed safety regulations, and are not to blame in this or other incidents. They should not be pressured into shutting down their business because you imply that they are guilty.

At least some of the business

Juleann West Tisbury

At least some of the business owners who rent mopeds DO NOT carefully follow safety regulations. I work in Aquinnah and every day see moped riders wearing flip-flops. I also see the dozens of impatient auto drivers who insist on passing bicyclists on blind curves or while going up a hill where visibility is not guaranteed. Aggressive driving is definitely an issue. Still, the fact that skill and experience is not a requirement for driving a moped is poor oversight from our legislators.

The problem is cars, not

Islander Too

The problem is cars, not mopeds. Look at the size of cars and the size of our roads. The cars take up too much of the space alocated to ALL vehicles. The thrust should be to educate car drivers as to the rights of other vehicles on the road and proper driver behavior, and disincentives (via higher ferry cost) for bringing ridiculously large SUVs to the Vineyard. A reminder:

##In the eyes of Massachusetts law, bicycles and mopeds are **vehicles**, not some version of a pedestrian, and they are to be afforded the same rights and responsibilities as any other vehicle on the road. As a driver, you should remember this when trying to navigate the road next to them. Their taxes also pay for our roads.
Keep in mind: bicycles reduce traffic. Although it might seem like bicycles are slowing down traffic, in reality, one person on a bicycle is one less person in a car, taking up more space on the road.
Give cyclists and moped riders adequate room to pass. When you try to squeeze pass them, you put them at risk of serious injury – which puts you at risk of either a citation or even criminal charges.

Regarding bike lanes, the cars have to stay out of them, but cyclists don’t have to stay in them. ***Bicyclists are free to ride in the bike lane – or not.****
Save the honking, if you can. Besides being often unnecessary and therefore rude, honking can startle a cyclist or a moped rider, resulting in a crash. Only honk if it’s absolutely necessary.

One excellent proposal to

William Butler Chilmark

One excellent proposal to reduce moped accidents would be to require renters to have a motorcycle license and to limit their use to a single rider. These two simple regulations would greatly reduce the risk of accidents by weeding out inexperienced riders. Additionally, there should be a "slow down in our town" initiative to raise awareness of safe driving for all drivers. It seems that I can't ever drive the speed limit down State Road without some three ton SUV riding my bumper.

As the author of "Mopeds are

Michael Stutz Aquinnah

As the author of "Mopeds are Dangerous" at a meeting long ago at Sam Feldman's house, and veteran of the legislative effort to ban rentals on the Vineyard, I have come to realize that, in fact, cars, trucks and a failure to share the road is the greater danger.

The campaign we need the most is one urging everyone to be more careful, go slower and share the road.