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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ride the Ducks admits to 463 safety violations, to pay $222K

Associated Press

SEATTLE – The Ride the Ducks tour bus company has admitted to 463 motor safety violations and has agreed to pay $222,000 in penalties to settle a state complaint. The complaint resulted from last year’s crash on the Aurora Bridge in Seattle.

The staff of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission found 159 of the safety violations were acute or critical to protecting public safety. The rest were related to record keeping.

The commission staff and the company have proposed suspending another $111,600 in fines related to the record keeping violations, as long as the company keeps up with ongoing testing requirements for two years.

The agreement between the commission staff and the company now goes before the three-member commission.

The investigation of Ride the Ducks began after the September 2015 crash that killed five international college students and injured dozens of others when a repurposed military “duck boat” swerved into a charter bus.

A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board blamed a defective front axle on the duck boat for the crash.