Oak Bluffs EMS and police were dispatched to the roundabout Sunday afternoon after a moped accident left a mother and her daughter with broken bones.
The mother, who’d been driving, told police she was traveling eastbound on Edgartown Road when she lost control of the rented moped after sliding on loose sand.
Both the woman and her daughter, who was riding as a passenger, then hit the curb of the roundabout, forcing them off the moped.
Police say that while the daughter sustained minor leg injuries, the mother suffered five broken ribs, a broken collarbone, and a bruised lung as a result of the crash. She was transferred by ambulance to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.
Sunday’s incident coincides with the newest form of state efforts to restrict the rental and lease of mopeds in Oak Bluffs.
On Tuesday, State Rep. Dylan Fernandes spoke on behalf of newly proposed House Bill No. 3726. He told lawmakers that nine people have died from driving mopeds on Martha’s Vineyard over the past 20 years.
Most recently, two years ago a 20-year-old woman who was vacationing on the Vineyard was killed after being catapulted from a moped that had crashed into an oncoming car.
Give me a break, ban mopeds year-round.
What Albert said.
You remember the old bumper sticker?
Ban moped rentals. It should have happened years ago.
And car rentals too.
Should have been banned decades ago. The people that rent them out have blood on their hands.
Like gun store owners?
Yep, them too. Don’t forget the gun manufacturers.
Really Patterson, ”blood on their hands””?
Of course, some people will blame the roundabout, some will blame the sand, some will blame the moped and some will blame the operator.
One thing for sure– if these people were not on a moped, there would not have been an accident involving a moped.
If there were no cars there would be no accidents involving cars.
Same goes for airplanes.
And hammers.
You can’t ban mopeds.
But you can make a law requiring one vehicle below a certain size, one rider only.
Even more job killing government regulations?
How many jobs would this kill on the island? Fewer than the number injured?
The injured are those horrid tourists.
Of course you can. Many ways to effectively ban them. Easiest way is just to classify them as motorcycles. Then you have to have a motorcycle license to rent one and trust me no self respecting biker is going to rent one of those things.
Wrong.
I have have owned motorcycles for fifty years.
I have always rented a moped when I have stopped in Bermuda.
Even St. Barts.
Do we need more government regulation?