Concerned that the driver of a pedicab involved in a fatal crash in
Belltown on August 6 is being set up as a fall guy in the accident, a
now-former worker for the same pedicab company has told The
Stranger that it’s just as likely the accident was caused by shoddy
maintenance and lax safety.
Referring to the owner of Cascadia Cabs, Ryan Hashagen, this former
employee said: “I’ve been reading what Ryan has been saying to the
media and I want to say the other side of it… He’s blaming the driver
when I think that there are poor management practices that are actually
to blame for the accident.”
According to an August 7 report by KOMO News headlined “Pedicab
owner: Driver at fault in deadly crash,” and still posted on the
station’s website, Hashagen placed blame for the accident squarely on
the driver of the pedicab: “There were no mechanical problems with a
Cascadia Cabs pedicab involved in a deadly collision with a minivan
Wednesday in Seattle, says the owner of the company, who blames the
driver for the crash.
“Ryan Hashagen of Bellingham, the company’s owner, said the brakes
of the three-wheeled touring vehicle were working properly, and that
the driver should never have taken the pedicab down such a steep
slope.”
The former employee, who spoke to The Stranger in our offices
on the condition of anonymity out of fear of legal retribution, worked
at Cascadia at the time of the accident. The former employee, along
with a current employee whose employment could not be verified by press
time, said Cascadia doesn’t provide enough braking mechanisms on its
pedicabs, relies on inexperienced bikers, and is insufficiently
thorough in safety training.
Cascadia’s pedicabs have only a simple braking mechanism: a metal
bar connected to a leather strap. There are no hand brakes on the
pedicabs.
The August 6 accident occurred when the pedicab, apparently out of
control as it headed down a hill in Belltown, ran a red light and
collided with a minivan. A 60-year-old man, in Seattle to celebrate his
anniversary, was killed. He had been riding as a passenger in the
pedicab with his wife, who was injured in the accident. The driver of
the pedicab was also injured.
Contacted by The Stranger on August 12, Hashagen, who runs
Pedicab operations in five Northwest cities, said he could only read a
prepared statement.
“Our heart goes out to all those affected by this incident,”
Hashagen said. “We want to get to the bottom of this situation as much
as anyone. We are conducting a full investigation into what has
occurred. We are cooperating with all relevant local authorities
investigating this incident.”
Told of the former employee’s specific complaints, which included
concerns that pedicabs are allowed onto the streets of Seattle without
proper maintenance and sent into traffic with poorly functioning
brakes, he said: “Our company policy is safety first. We have a motto.
That is, ‘Be safe, have fun, and make money.’ …[Drivers] are not
allowed to leave the shop with nonfunctioning brakes.”
He also said that drivers are told to avoid hills like the one that
was apparently a factor in the August 6 crash. “All of our drivers
receive extensive training and extensive ongoing training and are told,
‘If you can’t go up it, don’t go down it,'” Hashagen said.
But the former employee who spoke to The Stranger said: “They
do do a very short training, but they never tell you not to go down
hills.”
The former employee, along with a second current employee, also said
that Cascadia Cabs called some pedicab drivers into a meeting on August
8 and asked them to sign an agreement limiting what they could say to
the media about the accident. The former employee who spoke to The
Stranger decided not to sign the agreement. Hashagen said there was
a safety meeting on August 8, but that pedicab drivers were not asked
to sign a confidentiality agreement.
The former employee also told The Stranger that another
pedicab driver recently had to hop off his pedicab and stop the vehicle
with his hands because the brake had failed. This could not be
verified.
“It’s not something that’s inherently dangerous with pedicabs,” the
former employee said. “It’s just this company.” 
