Ride the Ducks no stranger to collisions

Thursday’s collision involving a Ride the Duck vehicle on Seattle’s Aurora Bridge is not the first incident of its kind with such amphibious vehicles.

The tour company, with franchises across the nation, takes visitors around towns in vehicles that are capable of navigating both streets and waterways.

In 2010, two people died in Philadelphia when a tugboat ran over a Ride the Ducks vehicle. It was later discovered that the tugboat driver was on his cell phone.

In 1999, 13 people in Arkansas drowned in an accident on a similar tour with the same kind of amphibious vessel. It was not a Ride the Ducks company vehicle, however.

In Seattle, there is a string of minor accidents involving the Ride the Ducks vehicles, one as recently as July when a pedestrian was struck and injured.

In 2012, a motorcyclist sued Seattle’s Ride the Ducks company after an accident in which he says he was run over and dragged by one of the vehicles.

The man’s attorney, Steve Bulzomi, said the lawsuit forced the company to install cameras in front of the vehicles to increase visibility, but he still thinks they’re unsafe. Duck drivers have too much on their plate, Bulzomi said.

“They’re performing three different roles: driver, tour guide, and entertainer. The combination of all those things creates a dangerous situation and overloads the driver.”

KIRO Radio’s Sara Lerner contributed to this report.