KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Mary Schiavo read the headlines in horror 19 years ago when 13 people on board a duck boat in Arkansas drowned after it sank in Lake Hamilton.
The former inspector general for the Department of Transportation thought then that Congress and the U.S. Coast Guard should act immediately. They needed to strengthen regulations regarding canopies on the vessels, enforce stringent life jacket requirements and either ban duck boats altogether or crack down on their industry.
None of that happened.
Then came the horrific headlines this month from another duck boat tragedy on Table Rock Lake near Branson. This time, 17 of the 31 on board were dead, five of them children.
Not again, she thought.
Today, Schiavo is part of a growing chorus of experts, lawmakers and safety advocates who insist change to these boats should happen soon. Not in a year or two when the federal investigation is finished. But now, when duck boats are still transporting tourists on lakes and waterways in several states across the country.
"If people want laws, they need to push for them right now," said Schiavo, a transportation lawyer who was inspector general from 1990 to 1996. "What happens is you have this critical period of time after a tragedy in which you can get action. ... But as soon as Congress isn't under the microscope anymore, it becomes very difficult."
The nation learned that lesson after the deadly duck boat disaster on Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs, Ark. A long list of recommendations, which the National Transportation Safety Board came out with three years after the tragedy, was virtually ignored.
"If they had been (implemented), they would have saved this boat," Schiavo said.
That inaction can't happen again, lawmakers and safety advocates agree.
In the days since the Stretch Duck 07 sank in Table Rock Lake, one U.S. senator has begun working on legislation to implement the changes recommended 16 years ago and a Missouri lawmaker said the state needs to have a public hearing to identify what solutions are needed.
And the congressman who represents Branson thinks duck boats should be temporarily banned while the investigation determines why the vessel sank.
"These vehicles were not designed to haul people. They were World War II vehicles designed to go ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship hauling cargo," said U.S. Rep. Billy Long, a Republican from Springfield. "They've been adapted over the years, and there's been enough accidents. It's time to cease and desist with them unless they can be made safe."
Missouri's two U.S. senators told their colleagues Tuesday that Congress must do something. Sen. Roy Blunt shared personal details of many of the victims and said the country can't ever go through a loss like that again.
Sen. Claire McCaskill agreed.
"I don't think it makes sense for us to wait another year to address some of these glaring issues in terms of passenger safety," she said on the Senate floor. "We've had 40 deaths associated with the duck boats since 1999, yet there has been little done to address the inherent dangers of these amphibious vehicles."
In the absence of federal legislation on duck boats, some cities and states where fatal incidents have occurred have taken it upon themselves to regulate duck boat tours to the extent that they can.
Will Branson and the state of Missouri follow suit?
"We need to get right on it," said Rep. Bill Reiboldt, a Neosho Republican who is chair of the House transportation committee. "I think they can deal with it in next year's session and come out with something."
