Let’s remember when five people were killed and 69 injured when a Ride the Ducks vehicle caused an accident on the Aurora Bridge, on this day in 2015 (September 24)
Up through September 23, 2015, the Ride the Ducks vehicles were minor annoyances in a few Seattle neighborhoods. They killed off nostalgia for those songs you liked 20 years ago, made fun of pedestrians, and clogged traffic. Then they public an actual safety nightmare when a vehicle on the Aurora Bridge caused a massive accident, leaving five dead and 69 injured (very, very, very not nice).
As HistoryLink’s John Caldbick wrote:
Shortly after 11 a.m. on September 24, 2015, a mechanical failure in its steering system causes a northbound Ride the Ducks amphibious tour vehicle to cross the center line on Seattle’s Aurora Bridge and collide with a southbound charter bus carrying foreign-exchange students and staff from North Seattle Community College. Five passengers on the bus will die and dozens more in the two vehicles are injured. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board will find that the cause of the accident was a known but uncorrected defect in the Duck vehicle’s steering mechanism. Eventual settlements and jury verdicts in suits arising from the catastrophe will total more than $140 million.
Not good.
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