Be suspicious of calls to ban Ride the Ducks

Within moments of Thursday’s tragic news that a Ride the Ducks vehicle collided with a charter bus, killing four and injuring many, we saw social media at its most maddening.

Social media was being used as an outlet for people to make bold statements without any facts to back up their beliefs. Key among them was a frequent and near-immediate call to ban the Ride the Ducks business from operating in the area.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray was even hit with concern over the Ducks. It was actually the first question posed to him at a press conference following the incident Friday when a reporter asked Murray if Ride the Ducks should continue to operate in Seattle. The mayor had no answer, but did point out that the company is of interest to investigators.

“I know the [National Transportation Safety Board] is very interested in that issue in particular, because we are not the only city that has some version of this [business],” Murray said. “There are safety questions that we need to answer. I don’t know the answer, but it’s a serious question that we now know exists.”

But before anyone actually knew the cause of the accident &#8212 and we still don’t &#8212 folks were calling for intervention:

#BanTheDucks they have no place in a #VisionZero Seattle. @VisionZeroSea https://t.co/mDtvZZJRKX

— lee colleton (@sleepylemur) September 25, 2015

Ducks should not share roads w/ civilian vehicles. @MayorEdMurray should lead US cities in discontinuing them: http://t.co/pvdVcPYfqV

— Nancy Fullman (@nwnancy) September 25, 2015

@casslavalle I know that you know my feelings on this. Because they are exactly the SAME. #ihatetheducks

— Anna Sharp (@VicGardenYarn) September 25, 2015

The tweets go on and on, some from professional, anti-car activists, others simply reacting emotionally to a very sad event. All, unfortunately, are completely unreasonable, because we don’t know what caused the crash yet.

Be very suspicious of people who use tragedy to push through policy change (as Seattle Greenways is doing) or try to kill a business, and with it, hundreds of jobs. They say the Ducks’ vehicle was speeding (they don’t know that) and claim it’s dangerous because it doesn’t have seat belts (sort of like buses?).

Related: Oppose Seattle transportation plans? You want people dead

The strategy is often manipulative, and it’s always based on emotion. And yes, we should be emotional when four people are killed in an crash, but no, we shouldn’t immediately make any policy changes (or kill businesses) until our emotion subsides and we’re able to rationally think about what to do.

Now, for some, particularly the professional activists hell-bent on using tragedy to their advantage, they will immediately go on the offense, sensing they have an advantage. They’ll say if you don’t do what they like, well, you just don’t care about human life. They’ll claim you’re not committed to safety. Case in point:

Here's opportunity for @SeattleCouncil @MayorEdMurray @seattledot @wsdot to show real commitment to road safety.
https://t.co/3tbvX1TkMw

— NE Seattle Greenways (@NEGreenways) September 24, 2015

So if we don’t do what you want, we don’t have a commitment to safety? Preposterous.

How about you wait, as impatient as you may be, until the details of what happened are released, before jumping to conclusions and making unsubstantiated claims? Maybe we do want to ban the business. You can’t have that conversation without facts to support your side.

If it was a blown tire, for example, is that enough to justify closing an entire business? Following that logic, might I suggest we ban buses? As you may recall, in May of 2013, a bus ran a red light, plowing into a car, and killing two people. If you truly care about life, won’t you get rid of buses that can be more dangerous than cars in an accident?

No, of course not. That would be irrational.