When news broke that 17 people, including children, diedafter a duck boat capsized in Branson, Missouri, it tragically did not come as a shock to lawyer Jeffrey Goodman.
The firm has long called for a ban on the popular amphibious vehicles — that can both drive on city streets and coast through water — as they have represented three people who died in two different duck boat-related accidents involving the company,Ride the Ducks, which also owns the vessel used in Thursday night’s tragedy.
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“Duck boats should outright be banned, whether on land or on water, they are unsafe in either situation,” Goodman tells PEOPLE. “On land, they are too wide for modern roadways, they don’t have the maneuverability of vehicles, and they have massive blind spots because it has a bow, since it’s a boat. The operator sits so far behind that the blind spots are huge.”
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While these problems with maneuverability remain even when the vessel is in water, one of the most dangerous aspects of a duck boat, Goodman says, is its trademark canopy.
“On water, there is a variety of problems,” he explains. “It doesn’t have the maneuverability of a normal vessel, it sits lower in the water, which makes it more prone to sinking, and it has these canopies over top.”
As it restricts the avenues of escape for passengers, a seemingly innocuous canopy can turn into a deadly snare when a duck boat capsizes.
He adds: “Duck boats are death traps, and with the canopies, they are sinking coffins.”
Three years later, theNTSB released a report concerning the incidentthat warned about duck boat canopies and recommended for their removal. Twenty years later, a similar canopy seems to have been used on the duck boat that capsized in Branson.
In a statementon social media, Ride the Ducks said they will “assist the families who were involved” in Thursday night’s tragedy, and they will cease operations while an investigation continues.
source: people.com
