Another DUWK accident - Woman killed

Here we go again.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/woman-struck-killed-by-duck-boat-in-downtown-boston/ar-BBssJFQ?li=BBnb7Kz

That looks like a traffic accident, whereas most of the other incidents have been mechanical issues of varying sorts (wheels falling off, dukw sinking when it dies in a commercial traffic lane and is struck by an unmanned barge, etc.).

It really floors me when the media does this. Yes a woman was killed and yes that is a tragedy. I wonder how many headlines would be made if for say the vehicle of choice was a ford Taurus or a chevy cavalier. MAN KILLED BY YET ANOTHER FORD TAURUS or INNOCENT LITTLE OLD LADY RUN DOWN BY A CHEVY CAVALIER. I agree that it is a terrible accident but singling out one specific vehicle is a bunch of bunk.

Either way it's negative attention. It only takes so much before someone decides to come up with some "bright idea" legislation that restricts the use of former military vehicles, by civilian personnel. Flying low and off the radar is generally the best way to avoid undue hassle. Unfortunately I'm not very good at that prescribed advice in most aspects of my life....

infidel got me said:

It really floors me when the media does this. Yes a woman was killed and yes that is a tragedy. I wonder how many headlines would be made if for say the vehicle of choice was a ford Taurus or a chevy cavalier. MAN KILLED BY YET ANOTHER FORD TAURUS or INNOCENT LITTLE OLD LADY RUN DOWN BY A CHEVY CAVALIER. I agree that it is a terrible accident but singling out one specific vehicle is a bunch of bunk.

Click to expand...

It's because being killed by a Ford Taurus is a mundane "dog bites man story". The media wants money and that comes from advertisements. Advertisements come from having readers and readers pay attention to the unusual "man bites dog" attention grabbing stories. Trust me, after almost 20 years of dealing with the media there will always be a spotlight on any incidents involving military vehicles in civilian hands. It's the unfortunate nature of the modern media beast...

April 30th, 2016.


OOPs! I posted this one in the Mess Hall, my mistake! You might want to add that unlike a Ford Taurus, A DUKW has a serious blind spot under the bow area that is pretty much invisible to the DUKW's driver. I noticed the large bumper and the modified headlight placements, but still, due to the nature of the design, you pretty much need a trolley style lifeguard under there to scoop up errant pedestrians and motorcyclists.


See Picture below of 1905 Pittsburgh, PA. trolley with lifeguard:



The article doesn't specify if the accident occurred at an intersection, but there is a small chance that the MC was stopped in front of the DUKW at a light, and when the light changed, possibly the DUKW driver forgot about the bike and accelerated? In Texas I used to have a local twit with a Smart Fortwo play games with my M35A2 and cut me off and stop, figuring I could stop as fast as they could... The only lifesaver is that I always maintained several truck-lengths wherever possible when stopping to prevent an issue like this one from occurring. This is how I handled the blind spot, particularly when I did not have a co-driver or passenger on the right side of the cab.

Another truck that had a similar blindspot was the old Autocar tractors with the 7 or 8 foot long nose....talk about blind spots.


Either way, this could get the rest of us, DUKW and non-DUKW owners more attention then we really want or need.

And as to singling out a specific vehicle, anyone remember the old Ford Pinto and the gas tank bolt issue? When there's a design defect, and that is what this is, you are going to get attention. What other vehicle do you know that is commonly licensed to operate on the road that has a poor front end design comparable to a DUKW?

Well, the picture is not in an intersection, but possible that it happened prior to one.

They did also add the "bubble" mirrors to assist, but they wouldn't eliminate the blind spot just in front of the lip.

Very sad incident. Our sincere condolences to the woman's family.

Yes, very sad event. Condolences to all effected by this tragedy!

Granted, by the pictures one can see the duck has a pretty bad blind spot up front, but so does the log truck I drive for a living and the dump truck sitting in my yard. Does that mean we need to have a big study to set guidelines as to acceptable limits of front blind spots for various vehicles?
A number of years ago a coworker was at a stop sign in the company water truck and waited so long for traffic to clear, he literally forgot about the small car in front (hidden by that long hood on the truck).
Thankfully no one was injured and the damage to the car was minimal but it was an eye opener for all of us for sure.

My GF, Mama Shawn's, new pickup has a back up camera that is actually pretty handy (And I generally despise most high tech crappola) and we have seriously wondered why not have a front camera as well so as to help with parking in the garage and other tight places.

Maybe the duck operators could invest in that technology since they seem to operate in dense traffic environments. And make it mandatory that the duck have 2 crew members--one who is to drive-PERIOD --and a second who can give the tour narrative and point out the sights.

We in this hobby don't need this sort of negative attention --- the media bloodhounds have seemingly picked up the scent of a good controversy --just what they do best. Seems they don't just report the news anymore-- they just stir things up.

Jim

I agree at the very least have a 2 man crew so the driver can pay attention better

Sad event. I agree with the post regards fitting forward facing cameras. My 5 tons all have forward facing cameras. A necessity in my opinion over here.