Tour Vehicle Safety Reports Never Compiled

More than two weeks after the fatal Duck Boat accident on the Delaware, KYW Newsradio has learned that the Streets Department never once compiled safety reports on tour passenger vehicles -- reports that have been required annually under city law since 2006.

KYW's Mike Dunn reports legislation signed into law that year by then-mayor John Street requires the Streets Department to issue a report each March on the safety of all tour vehicles operating in the city -- including amphibious vehicles like Ride the Ducks.

The report would have looked at how the vehicles operated on city streets, including information about traffic violations by the tour vehicles, accidents including on the streets and the river, and injuries to passengers.

One week after KYW Newsradio requested the 2009 and 2010 reports, Deputy Streets Commissioner Steve Buckley admitted that staffers simply didn't know the law and have never prepared the reports:

"The current staff was really unfamiliar with the code, and had not prepared the report. The chief traffic engineer was unaware that the report had to be prepared."

Buckley said they have now gathered the data for the tourist seasons of 2008 and 2009 and, in response to our request, are now belatedly compiling those reports. He said that data indicated 16 incidents involving amphibious vehicles in 2008 and 15 incidents in 2009.

None of the incidents, he said, involved injuries.

Buckley said they are currently looking for the data for 2006 and 2007, before the current administration took office.

The admission that the reports were never compiled comes two weeks after two young Hungarian tourists were killed in a Duck Boat accident on the Delaware River (see related story). The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing its probe of the accident.

As to the Streets Department, Buckley said in future years the reports will be issued. "We will be fully compliant with the law moving forward."

(file photo)