On Sept. 24, Ride the Ducks went from simply being a public spectacle to a deadly example of what happens when maintenance and safety practices are neglected to make a buck. Now, the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) is leaning toward allowing some of these heavy metal vehicles resume operations.
That was the day five people were killed and 64 injured when a southbound Duck on crossed the centerline on the Aurora Bridge and struck a motor coach head-on. The National Transportation Safety Board later determined that a defective axle caused the accident.
State transportation investigators found 442 violations of motor-carrier safety rules and laws during a post-crash investigation, according to the UTC. Seven Ducks violations under federal law led the commission to call the company’s safety practices “unsatisfactory,” including allowing a driver to operate a commercial vehicle/amphibious tank without the right license and not conducting enough random drug tests.
While it’s admirable that Ride the Ducks CEO Brian Tracey has a laundry list of safety improvements to make to bail out his business, the extremely high number of violations this company allegedly committed should scrap any chances of them being allowed back on the streets of Seattle. We’re happy Mayor Ed Murray is urging caution about putting these Ducks back into operation, but who knows for how long.
Ride the Ducks has said it will stay off the Aurora Bridge and will have two employees manning each of its vehicles, which should free up one person to drive and the other to dish out trivia and urge tourists to blow on those standard-issue duck whistles that residents love so much.
Getting off the Aurora Bridge is good move, but then Ride the Ducks made a wrong turn by proposing an alternative route that would go across the Fremont Bridge, which doesn’t sound any safer.
As Murray pointed out earlier this month, none of what the Ducks have planned has been put into a formal agreement. While Ride the Ducks must submit a safety management plan to the UTC by Jan. 29, reports are that 10 of the 20 WWII-era amphibious vehicles in the Seattle company’s fleet could be allowed to start sooner than that. With three months of downtime, the now-cautious Tracey says there will need to be some test runs before the Ducks take on passengers — that is such a relief.
We hope the city does get time to respond with its typical flare for the dramatic and overly cautious manner, because this time it is warranted. If the Ducks are allowed to ride again, the city that will once again feel its presence should have some say.
Ride the Ducks has been operating since 1997 and, to its credit, stands out among easily identifiable Seattle attractions, but the immense growth in the city and rampant development is only worsening the city’s traffic problems. Growing up means putting the Ducks away.
One might expect the recent negative publicity and potential Seattle-made regulations is already doing some of work in finally retiring these relics. More likely is that the Ducks will return and people will forget the bad news until something happens again.
Until then, it would be best to practice how to dodge, dip, dive and duck.