The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Balmer Island Gazette."On Balmer Island, where mopeds serve as a popular form of transportation, the population increases to 100,000 during the summer months. To reduce the number of accidents involv

In the letter to the editor of Balmer Island Gazette it explains the correlation between the increases of the population during the summer months and the accidents involving mopeds and pedestrians. Hence, the writer claims that the council of Balmer Island should limit the number of mopeds rented by the island’s moped rental companies from 50 per day to 25 per day during the summer season. On the surface, the connection between the mopeds accidents and the increase of pedestrians makes sense, however there are many unexplained fallacies that need to be examined carefully before making a decision that could bring an opposite result to the problem.

First, there should be moe information about the island’s population and moped accidents during winter verses summer days. Thence, the amount of mopeds rentals in the winter and in the summer. By getting all of this information covered, it could belie the assumption that the reason of moped and pedestrians accidents over the summer is related to the fact that there are too many mopeds rented. By comparing the different aspects and numbers, one might find out that there is a larger amount of moped accidents over the winter as well which will bring a different light on the problem. Finding the cause of the problem will make it easier on the council to come up with the right solution to solve it.

Second fallacy can be found when comparing the island of Seaville to the Balmer Island Gazette. It is mentioned that the town council of Seavile Island attained 50 percent annual reduction in moped accidents last year however, there is no other information comparing the two islands in size, population, tourism, the condition of the roads and moped rentals. There is no information about the public transportation in each island and the amount of accidents during the winter verses summer time. This makes the reader think that by mentioning the success of Seaville Island to Balmer Island, it is like comparing apples to oranges. When comparing to another island, it should be done by looking at the different angles and aspects of both islands. Comparing the conditions of the roads each island has could bring to a conclusion that the council of Balmer Island might need to focus on fixing the roads rather than focusing on the moped rentals companies on the island.

Third, It is important to work wisely and make sure that by cutting down the amount of moped rentals the island is not going to hurt the businesses and the population who might be dependent on the mopeds to travel around. Also, it is important to check the targeted market of tourists who come to the island over the summer. If most tourism is based on young singles who count on the fact that they can rent the mopeds to move around, by blocking this option, it can hurt the businesses revenues and might create a decrease in the interest of those tourists who visit the island regularly. For example, many young Israeli children like to travel to different islands in Greece before going to the army. Those youngsters, plan on renting scooters in the island as it is fun, cheap and convenient. If the island decides to change some of those regulations about the scooters, many of those young Israeli travelers will choose to go somewhere else. If the majority of the tourism is built on those young people, the island will loose its tourism revenue for that season.

To conclude on this matter, it is important to do a lot of research before making a crucial decision such as hurting the revenue of the moped businesses and risking the tourism revenue on the island. First, there should be a study about the island itself to find out more information that might be affecting the accidents overall. Also, when discussing the moped issue on another island, it is important to examine and compare different areas in both islands to make sure that the comparison is not based on apples and oranges. Before changing anything, there should be a study about the targeted population coming to the island over the summer. Different population has different needs and in order to protect the tourism on the island, decisions about the mopeds and other options of public transportation should be considered carefully and not be copied automatically from another island.