The Oak Bluffs select board is considering restricting rented mopeds to be single-rider vehicles, and banning passengers on the back seats.
That suggestion came from board member Thomas Hallahan on Tuesday. He highlighted that the town’s bylaws allow the select board to adopt additional regulations if deemed to be in the best interest of “public need, safety, and good order” when awarding or renewing business licenses.
Hallahan’s recommendation was made out of consideration for safety, in light of a history of brutal and fatal accidents on the Island. A back-seat passenger can cause the vehicles to tip and swerve. “That extra weight, I think, really puts both individuals and anybody in the community at risk,” he said about passengers on the back of mopeds.
Mopeds are frequently used by visitors to the Island, and have been a longtime public safety concern on the Island; Vineyarders were rattled in August when a woman from Florida was killed in an accident in Oak Bluffs while on vacation. Oak Bluffs is the only town on the Island with active moped rental shops.
Hallahan’s recommendation is the second suggestion already this year. State Rep. Thomas Moakley, who represents the Vineyard in Boston, introduced legislation in January that would require moped operators to have a motorcycle license.
Others on the board were supportive of the newest measure, although the board took no action on it yet. “I do think we have an obligation to try to protect not only our residents but our visitors,” board member Mark Leonard said.
Still, moped rental business operators contested the suggestion, saying it could add more mopeds on the road; instead of sitting on the back of the bike, someone might rent a second moped.
Hallahan’s suggestion arose during a contentious select board meeting in which town officials attempted to answer the public’s ongoing call to place stronger regulations on moped rentals. Two of three remaining rental businesses in Oak Bluffs — Island Hoppers and Ride On Mopeds — were on the board’s agenda looking for their annual renewal.
Select board chair Dion Alley said the town’s authority is limited. He said that a judge ruled in 2017 that the town couldn’t impede a business or its operations unless the licensee voluntarily chooses to not continue rentals, or if they weren’t following laws. Despite public sentiment, the town could do little to shut the three operations down, Alley said.
Besides a call to ban moped rentals, the public has also criticized town officials for not strictly enforcing regulations, something Alley admitted the select board has not done a good job of doing. He made a commitment that the town will “strongly enforce” its moped regulations.
“It’s not personal … But it is something we strongly believe in this town,” Alley said, saying even a single death stemming from a moped accident was “not acceptable.”
The town has submitted a home-rule petition to ban mopeds to the state legislature, although it is stuck “sitting in committee,” as Oak Bluffs town administrator Deborah Potter put it.
Oak Bluffs Police Chief Jonathan Searle attested to the traumatic toll a severe moped accident can have on first responders, and anybody at the scene. He is working to launch an initiative to help Oak Bluffs Police officers process trauma, including from “tragedies” like fatal moped accidents.
Amelie Loyot, an Oak Bluffs resident who lives across Farm Pond, where the bike path begins, said she has seen several moped accidents, including a fatal one. Loyot described the unsafe behavior she’s seen on the road, like moped operators taking selfies while wobbly driving the vehicle. She also felt the amount of training renters receive before driving on their own was insufficient.
“It’s just very dangerous,” she said, dabbing tears from her eyes as she returned to her seat.
Timothy Rich, former Chilmark Police chief and longtime advocate for a rental moped ban on the Island, urged the town to expend its resources to restrict mopeds. On top of safety issues, he said, there is potential liability for the town if test drives are allowed on public roads.
Rich also said he had received a phone call from the mother of the Florida woman involved in the fatal moped crash, who asked how such an accident could’ve occurred.
“They’re unsafe. The laws don’t work. We all know it,” Rich said.
Michael Tierney and Aguimar Carlos, representing the three moped businesses in the Oak Bluffs, pushed back on the public sentiment that mopeds are dangerous.
Tierney said efforts are made to run a safe operation under state laws. Tierney also said half of the mopeds on Vineyard roads are privately owned, and while he understands deaths have occurred, the number of moped-related accidents are “not as many as reported or insinuated.”
“The last thing we want is an accident or an incident,” Tierney said, saying there are “less than 20 incidents” annually stemming from mopeds rented at the three shops. “It’s certainly not a money grab. We’re very cognizant, conscious of the safety issue and all that. If we feel they cannot drive, we pull them off.”
While Hallahan’s proposal was something they could consider, Carlos said “it would put more bikes on the road.”
“And possibly less experienced drivers,” Tierney said, although he said they don’t allow visitors to rent vehicles alone if the operator can’t drive the moped well. This is also why some pairs of people rent a single moped to ride.
Potter, who had experience riding on the back of a motorcycle, said a driver can be influenced “very easily by how you lean,” and raised concerns about the businesses’ practices.
“Just that simple leaning, with somebody who’s unfamiliar, can actually cause an accident much easier than if it’s just one person, or if they’re responsible for the moped themselves,” she said.
Tierney argued that while “mopeds make all the news,” there are more bicycle accidents that go unreported, another vehicle rented at Island Hoppers.
“They’re not as dangerous as they’re perceived to be,” Tierney said. “They’ve grown more and more like a monster, and the facts don’t support that.”
The board pushed the license matter to a future meeting, and did not take a vote on Hallahan’s proposal.
This is the most sane moped safety proposal yet! ADOPT THIS ASAP! As a lifetime motorcycle rider a passenger on a two wheeled vehicle, whether it is a bicycle, scooter 🛵 (they are not really mopeds anymore) or motorcycle, totaling changes the dynamic, safety & control of the driver especially when turning. To an inexperienced moped driver this dynamic can lead to oversteering into the oncoming traffic lane with a fatal result. This just makes sense. Having to rent two mopeds may make renting a car more probable and safer to all.
Mopeds are no longer the major concern. Electric “Bikes” that go as fast as mopeds and can ride on the bike paths I’m afraid are the new issue we’ll be dealing with for the next several decades. Perhaps until we have flying bikes.
Way to make a problem where one doesn’t exist. E-Bikes aren’t the menace you wish they were.
Moped injuries per mile?
E-bikes?
Great idea! Let’s double the number of mopeds and the profits for the moped companies. Can’t believe no one has thought of this before!
Hey, John, look at it a different way: very often one of the passengers on a two-person moped is NOT comfortable riding their own moped. I bet that would put an end to that option for those people. Plus, two mopeds make it prohibitively expensive if you have a group of four or six people. Therefore, a car rental makes more financial and logical sense. Perhaps this is a smart way of LOWERING profits and numbers of mopeds.
To address John Zarba’s comment: Electric bikes are a problem, I was hit and injured by one on the sidewalk in VH. The rider did not stop. To address Ada Queetie: How charming that you were named after one of Nancy Luce’s beloved Hens.
My wife and I witnessed a horrific accident on a moped. A young man was driving near the golf frisbee site near the airport. Cars were building up behind them so they moved to the side and hit the sand. His front wheel turned inward and the girlfriend was sent flying over her boyfriend and landed almost head first in front of the moped. We took her back to our house and patched her terrible arm and head lacerations and sent her off to the hospital. No one should be on the back of those things without a restraint. There is nothing to hold on to. If he had been alone it would have been just a wrecked moped. Outlaw these dangerous toys.
It seems to me that with the popularity of E bikes there is no reason to have mopeds on the road at all. Let the e bikes use the bike paths and have them top out at 20mph.
Motorcyclists begin the licensing process with a learner’s permit — and on that permit, until they pass the state test and gain a full license, motorcyclists are not allowed to carry a passenger. Virtually none of the visitors who rent mopeds here are licensed motorcyclists, which means they’re all pretty squarely at the “learner” stage. The licensed motorcyclist who wants to rent a moped would be very rare, but it would be reasonable to allow such a rider to carry a passenger on a moped. For renters who can’t show a valid motorcyclist’s license — for safety’s sake — the rule should be rider only, no passengers.
(As for the argument that banning passengers will double moped rentals: that’s just silly. If that were true, the moped dealer arguing against this new rule would be enthusiastically in favor of it.)
Clarity.
I had a motorcycle for about 6 years and had passengers on the back of it. I know the dynamics. It’s crazy to put 2 people on a moped. Especially with an inexperienced operator. If the moped business owners had any concern for the safety of their customers, they would voluntarily rent only single rider mopeds. . Having said that, it seems the subject of e bikes often comes up in these discussions. There are 3 classes of e bikes—.Class 1 (pedal assist only ) and class 2 (pedal assist or throttle) have a top speed of 20 mph. Class 3 (throttle only) have a top speed of 28 mph. Massachusetts law requires a driver’s license and registration for class 3. There is no place on M.V that rents a class 3 e bike. Keep in mind, we are talking about rentals here. It seems that class 3 e bikes are not allowed on bike paths on the Vineyard, but I don’t think it gets enforced. A few signs informing class 3 riders of that might help keep them off of the bike paths, and if people knew the police were enforcing that, it would also help.
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