BUCKLAND, Mass. (AP) – The state is putting the brakes on a disabled woman who used a riding lawn mower to get around her tiny Franklin County town.
Since a stroke left her with little mobility on the right side of her body seven years ago, Miyaca Dawn Coyote has been using the mower to navigate her 85 acres of land and drive about a mile into the village of Shelburne Falls, where she runs errands and visits with friends.
A friend removed the tractor’s mowing deck and outfitted it with lights, an orange safety flag and a milk crate that Coyote used as a trunk or glove compartment.
But after a state police trooper spotted her a few months ago crossing Route 2, the busy and scenic corridor known as the Mohawk Trail, the legality of Coyote’s transportation has been called into question.
“He told me “If I see you riding that again, I’ll take it away from you,”‘ Coyote said. “The mower is my mobility device. It’s like my legs. He struck terror in my heart.”
Looking for help, Coyote, 63, asked selectmen to investigate whether there were any laws preventing her from riding her mower on public roads.
This month, she found out there are.
“The Registry of Motor Vehicles sent us a letter saying the mower is not a legal vehicle to be driven on public ways,” said Robert Dean, Buckland’s town administrator. “They said lawn tractors aren’t motor vehicles. They can’t be registered or used for transportation.”
Dean said town officials want to work with Coyote to figure out some way to keep her independent and mobile.
Officials from the RMV did not immediately return telephone calls to The Associated Press.
Coyote said she won’t drive her mower off her private property, and is thinking about how to get around. She’s also thinking about hiring a lawyer or getting some legal advice to see if she could get the state to make an exception for her case.
Meanwhile, Coyote says she’ll rely on friends and maybe even a taxi cab to come about 15 miles from Greenfield to shuttle her around.
But she’s sure of one thing: it will be hard to come up with a vehicle better than her mower.
She already decided against getting an all-terrain vehicle, because the town’s police chief told her those can’t be driven on public roads. She briefly considered using a golf cart or motorized scooter, but Coyote said those wouldn’t serve her well on the rough land on her private property.
“After my stroke, I had to learn how to live,” she said. “I looked into every nook and cranny for ideas on how to get around. I finally found one, and now I have to find another.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
