Talk:Chappaquiddick Island

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Unwarranted assumption in summary of Chappy incident

I have no problem with the Ted Kennedy incident section, but rather with the summary of it in the second line of the article:

The island's name became internationally recognized following the July 18, 1969 incident, for which U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy accidentally drove his car off the island's Dyke Bridge, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

Because Senator Kennedy's version of the incident was not plausible, neither his being the driver nor his presence in the car can be stated as established fact (see the Alternative theory section of Chappaquiddick_incident). I suggest the following more neutral and precise replacement for the second line of the article:

The island's name became internationally recognized following the July 18, 1969 incident, in which U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy's car drove off the island's Dyke Bridge, fatally trapping Mary Jo Kopechne inside.

If someone volunteers to make this change, please preserve the existing hyperlinks in the sentence. Whether Dyke or Dike is the favored spelling of the bridge name is a separate issue I don't want to take sides on, so I've left it unchanged.Bh23b (talk) 19:55, 15 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

errr...passive voice makes it sound like the car was driverless or that a different driver has been established. given that he PLEADED GUILTY to the event, the article should state clearly that he drove it. alternate theories can be mentioned later, but don't derail the lede.

it sounds silly as worded now. 209.172.25.144 (talk) 23:56, 10 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Speed limit?

Today I saw a car with a bunch of Martha's Vinyard/Chappaquiddick bumper stickers, including one that said something about driving 25 on "Chappy," which I assume from the context to be a nickname for the island. Though I'm from Massachusetts, I'm from the western part of the state, have never been to either of our insular counties, and don't know anything about the local culture there. Is there a universal speed limit of 25 MPH on Chappaquiddick and/or a campaign to get people to voluntarily drive that speed?

If so, and if anyone can provide sources, it seems like it might be worth a mention. (Although I believe that according to state traffic law you're supposed to assume a 25 MPH limit in medium-density residential areas with no speed limit signs. If the whole of "Chappy" meets that description then it's probably not noteworthy. If it's a community of islanders attempting to enforce norms to make the area more pedestrian-friendly, it probably is.) —Quintucket (talk) 23:36, 6 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]