4 killed as Ride The Ducks vehicle collides with charter bus

[Psihala]

Four people were killed and twelve were in critical condition after a charter bus, a Ride The Ducks tour vehicle, and two smaller vehicles collided on the Aurora Bridge in Seattle Thursday morning.

http://www.king5.com/story/news/traf...ured/72746930/

[Psihala]

The National Transportation Safety Board says it may investigate.

They aren't required to, but they are going to investigate:

NTSB is sending a go-team to investigate today’s collision of an amphibious duck boat and motorcoach near Seattle, Wash.

~Psihala

[Tootsie Plunkette]

Initial reports from a couple witnesses, including one driver who was right behind the DUCK, seem to indicate a catastrophic mechanical failure with the left front wheel just before the crash.

[jimmy101_again]

So it seems like the NTSB is getting involved because the "Duck" is an odd vehicle/craft. One that really wasn't designed to be driven on modern public highways. There are a fair number of these things around and a review might be warranted.

[GenYus234]

Not necessarily, they get involved in fatal crashes of regular vehicles too, particularly when they are being used commercially.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

I suspect they're getting involved in part because that bridge has been an accident waiting to happen for a long, long time. It's 6 very narrow lanes wide, with no center barrier, and people never go the speed limit across it unless forced. My very first paid legal research assignment concerned the lack of a center divider on this bridge, thirty-odd years ago.

Although I understand the policy of the ducks is to cross it slightly under the speed limit, both because it's a very wide vehicle and to offer its passengers a good view. The bridge is hundreds of feet above the water.

This is the same bridge that used to be second only to the Golden Gate for suicides, where the bus driver was shot while driving in 1998, and it has a troll that lives under it.

Seaboe

[Psihala]

It could be any, or all, of the reasons stated above. The NTSB's mandate from Congress states, in part,

The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident the United States and significant accidents in other modes of transportation – railroad, highway, marine and pipeline.

It is up to the NTSB to determine what constitutes "significant accidents in other modes of transportation", but they'll investigate any accident they feel poses risks to public safety, be it commercial or private.

This will be the third or fourth accident involving a "Duck" that I can think of off the top of my head that they will have investigated over the years.

~Psihala

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

This is from the Seattle Times. Semi-graphic photos included.

Seaboe

[Singing in the Drizzle]

I hate crossing that bridge, because people get rather rude with you if you drive the at the speed limit.

[Psihala]

The NTSB had their first of what sounds like at least two press briefings this afternoon - the next one is tomorrow.

It can be seen on the NTSB's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWw2gHTC1Qc

To their credit, rather than ask a bunch of questions they perhaps knew Member Weener couldn't answer, the reporters' questions centered more on why the NTSB was investigating this accident and what they will be doing rather than on the accident itself. That's probably just as well as the NTSB didn't have a lot of information yet - they'd been on-scene less than four hours, hadn't had their organizational meetings yet, and hadn't yet seen the vehicles.

~Psihala

[Graham2001]

Here are the second and third (Final) briefings:

(Second Briefing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuDUEgGLs5w


(Final Briefing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I8RlIGqtN4

Now the waiting begins.

[Tootsie Plunkette]

The owner of Seattle's Ride the Ducks, Brian Tracey, was for many years starting in 1986 one of the hosts of a local TV show, Evening Magazine.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

A fifth person has died, the Ducks have been shut down, and it appears they didn't do a piece of maintenance the national organization told them to, two years ago.

State Suspends Ride the Ducks Operations.

Seaboe

[Psihala]

The National Transportation Safety Board ruled on Tuesday that the probable cause of the 2015 Ride the Ducks crash that killed five people and injured 69 was a mechanical failure and improper maintenance, as well as loopholes in federal oversight.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ntsb-fin...ck-boat-crash/

[DrRocket]

Wow. That bus was really torn up.

[Lainie]

A lack of protections for the passengers, including seatbelts and “severely deformed” seats, contributed to the severity of the crash, NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said.

I miss copy editing.

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by jimmy101_again

So it seems like the NTSB is getting involved because the "Duck" is an odd vehicle/craft. One that really wasn't designed to be driven on modern public highways. There are a fair number of these things around and a review might be warranted.

Problems are happening in Boston too.
After 2nd duck boat crash this year, a renewed call for change

Bill calls for new rules for duck boats after fatal crash

Duck Boat Crashes Into Storrow Drive Overpass