I’m begging you not to Ride the Ducks

Seventeen people were killed in an accident involving a Ride The Ducks boat. No, I’m not referring to the tragedy that happened on the Aurora bridge. This is a new one. It just happened at a Ride The Ducks franchise in Missouri, the company’s home base.

Branson mourns for 17 killed in sinking of packed duck boat

Has there ever been a sketchier tourist attraction with a higher death toll than Ride The Ducks?

I hope and pray that the families in the Missouri accident are treated better than the families that lost a loved one here in Seattle 2015.

In case you forgot, after a wheel just flew off a Duck vehicle on the Aurora bridge killing five college students and wounding an additional 69 people, Ride The Ducks Seattle went to federal court with the family of Kim Ha Ram, an international exchange student that was killed, to avoid paying damages to her family because of a residency loophole in liability law.

You heard me right, they took a grieving family from a different country to U.S. federal court to basically say, “Yeah, sorry about killing your daughter and all, but you’re not residents of the United States. We owe you nothing. Have a nice day, here’s a plastic duck bill noise maker.”

Remember 18-year-old Phuong Dinh? She could no longer attend college classes due to her injuries as a result of being slammed into by a giant Ride The Ducks vehicle, so her student insurance expired. Did Ride The Ducks step in and offer to shoulder the medical expenses? They never even visited her in hospital. No flowers, no sympathy card, no personal note. The Ducks lawyers advised their client to stay away – or so we were told.

Also, in case you forgot, there’s a big difference between an accident, and ignoring a service bulletin that leads to deaths of innocent college students. I’ll direct you to the findings of the NTSB: “The National Transportation Safety Board ruled the probable cause of the 2015 Ride the Ducks crash that killed five people and injured 69 was a mechanical failure and improper maintenance.”

Add yesterday’s nightmare to the growing list of dead customers of Ride The Ducks.

Seventeen dead and counting in Missouri yesterday.

Thirteen dead in Arkansas in 1999.

Five dead and 69 injured in Seattle in 2015.

Two dead in Philadelphia in 2010 when a barge plowed into the side of a Duck and two tourists drown.

One dead, 1 injured when a Duck ran over a woman on a scooter in Boston in 2016.

And don’t forget another woman crossing the street was run over and killed by a Ride The Duck vehicle.

How is this company allowed to stay in business?

I implore you, do NOT Ride The Ducks. Tell your friends and families to NOT Ride The Ducks. In my opinion, by their actions here in Seattle, they are not in good standing with our values as a community.

You can hear “What are we talking about here?” everyday at 4:45 p.m. on 97.3 FM.

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