Another reason to get Ride the Ducks off Seattle streets

Aug 11, 2017, 3:02 PM

A Ride the Ducks tour vehicle collided with a sedan on Westlake Avenue March 19, 2017. (Courtesy of takadimi5000, reddit)

A Ride the Ducks vehicle crunched the rear end of a car in downtown Seattle on June 23, 2016. (KIRO 7)

A Ride the Ducks vehicle collided with a car at 5th Avenue and Mercer Street in Seattle. (Seattle Fire Department)

A Ride the Ducks vehicle has collided with a car at 5th Avenue and Mercer Street in Seattle.

A Ride the Ducks vehicle collided with a car at 5th Avenue and Mercer Street in Seattle.

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2015, file photo, a "Ride the Ducks" amphibious tour bus, right, and a charter bus remain at the scene of a fatal collision on the Aurora Bridge in Seattle. Ride the Ducks International has agreed to pay up to $1 million in civil penalties under a consent order reached with federal transportation officials. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, that the Branson, Missouri, manufacturer of the duck boats violated motor vehicle safety laws when it failed to initiate a full safety recall. One of the vehicles the company manufactured and sold was the one involved in the crash on the Seattle bridge, killing five college students. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

FILE - In this April 21, 2011 file photo, a Ride The Ducks tour splashes into the Delaware River, in Philadelphia. A company that uses amphibious sightseeing vehicles to show tourists the sights on land and water says it’s suspending operations in Philadelphia “indefinitely.” Ride the Ducks announced on its website Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016, that it has suspended operations due to financial reasons, including a 330 percent hike in insurance premiums. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

The Seattle tour company steeped in investigations following a fatal accident, has a plan for when its vehicles hit the road again. (SounderBruce/Flickr)

BY DYER OXLEY

Former MyNorthwest Content Editor

It happened again this week. A Ride the Ducks vehicle was involved in yet another crash.

Police are investigating the traffic incident that occurred on August 7 at 1st Avenue and Cherry Street. No fault has been determined yet. What is known is that a Ride the Ducks vehicle collided with a 2015 Ford Mustang convertible. No injuries were reported. It took police about 50 minutes to clear the scene.

There may have once been a time when Ride the Ducks could operate in Seattle, touring the streets near all the popular sights. But as the city is discovering, a lot of things are going to have to change as more people (with their cars) move in.

If Seattle ever was fit for Ride the Ducks, it isn’t any longer. The collision this week is a reminder of that. It’s time for Ride the Ducks to alter course.

I’m going to sidestep the obvious 2015 incident that Seattle’s Ride the Ducks tour company is now infamous for — the tragic and deadly crash on the Aurora Bridge (the company still faces lawsuits over it). There have been at least four collisions involving Ride the Ducks vehicles since then, on skinny streets or even wide open intersections like 5th Avenue and Mercer Street. Its current route takes the massive vehicles through downtown Seattle (where a few collisions have occurred), Westlake (where another collision happened), and on roads north of Lake Union. There have also been reports of a pedestrian and a motorcyclist being struck by their vehicles.

Ride the Ducks aka DUKW

The simple fact is this: these vehicles were never designed or intended to drive in an urban environment. They are amphibious DUKWs, called ducks, and were invented to transport supplies and military troops during WWII — over land or through water. They were never meant to weave through heavy traffic in a dense, major metropolitan city. This is evident any time the front end of a Duck runs into a car.

Since the 2015 Aurora Bridge crash, the company has been required to have two employees on board — a tour guide and a driver who is free from distraction. Despite that measure, collisions have still happened. The tour company must now adapt to a modern Seattle like the rest of us; a city that promotes a Vision Zero plan. It’s a stated goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries on Seattle streets.

That adaptation doesn’t mean the company has to close down. The ducks just have to migrate elsewhere. There are plenty of waterways for amphibious vehicles to explore and I’m sure tourists would love to see Seattle from that angle. Anyone can cruise the streets — and in Seattle I’m using the term “cruise” loosely. But not everybody can tour the water. That’s where the ducks should be, out of traffic.

Collision on Cherry St at 1st Ave partially blocking EB right lane. Use caution. pic.twitter.com/T48mqbHTOw

— seattledot (@seattledot) August 7, 2017

Follow @https://twitter.com/DyerOxley

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