A vibration attenuating mechanism and method is disclosed for the purpose of maintaining a high quality of image reading or writing while scanning a document with an image processing device which includes a carriage that supports an optical scanning element, a motor which drives the optical scanning element so as to scan a document for either reading or writing data, and a housing which supports the optical scanning element and the motor. At least one of a weight or a vibration absorbing material is provided nearby the motor so as to reduce vibrations which are transferred from the motor to the optical scanning element. In this way, the quality of image reading is maintained despite the recent trend toward increased scanning speeds.