Moped Driver Suffers Serious Injuries
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
A 37-year-old Watertown man is in stable condition after having been struck head-on by an oncoming car while riding a moped on Airport Road shortly after noon on Sunday.
Jose Rivera was driving north on a rented moped, headed toward the blinker, according to police, when a Subaru station wagon driven by Carol Vanderveer of Tisbury, 45, crossed into his lane and collided with him.
Detective Tony Bettencourt of the Edgartown police said Mr. Rivera's moped collided with the front of the Subaru and he was thrown into the car's windshield. Both Mr. Rivera and the moped were thrown into the bushes by the impact. According to police, he suffered serious injuries, including possible broken ribs, lacerations and abrasions. Edgartown and Oak Bluffs ambulances responded to the scene; more than a dozen emergency medical technicians arrived at the scene to offer help.
Miss Vanderveer told police she had lost control of the vehicle. She was later charged with negligent operation and a marked lane violation. Police said alcohol was not a factor in the accident, and that Miss Vanderveer passed a sobriety test.
The Airport Road is a straight stretch of highway where the accident took place, and the weather was sunny and clear at the time. The call for police came at 12:47 p.m. When police and medical technicians arrived they found Mr. Rivera in amid scrub oak and brush, a few feet off the road. The moped he was riding was a pile of broken metal at the edge of the tree line. The moped's front wheel had been completely shattered by the impact, and gasoline was dripping into the soil.
Miss Vanderveer's car was on the west side of the road. She was standing by the car. The windshield was smashed, both its glass and part of the roof caved in from the force of the impact. The road was closed for nearly half an hour.
Yesterday, Dr. Alan J. Hirshberg, director of emergency medical services at the hospital, said that Mr. Rivera was in stable condition and awaiting transport by ambulance to the mainland to be closer to his family. The doctor said Mr. Rivera required surgery for his injuries, but that he was conscious and that his prognosis for recovery is good.
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