The driver of a pedal-powered bar was charged Sunday with DUI after 15 people were injured a day earlier when the vehicle crashed at a Midtown Atlanta intersection, officials said.
Police said a “pedal pub” with more than a dozen people on board crashed at 14th and West Peachtree streets Saturday evening. Officials believe the party bike was trying to turn when it toppled over about 6:30 p.m.
Its driver, who was not identified, was charged with DUI and given a business permit violation, according to an Atlanta police news release.
Two people were critically injured, three sustained serious injuries and 10 suffered minor injuries, according to Alyssa Richardson, communications manager for Atlanta Fire and Rescue. Richardson did not have an update on their conditions Sunday. It’s unclear how many people were on board at the time.
Firefighters used a large ambulance bus typically reserved for mass-casualty events to take 10 of the riders to area hospitals. Others were taken to hospitals in regular ambulances, Richardson said.
Two patients were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, three were taken to Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center, four were taken to Emory University Hospital Midtown and the remaining six people were taken to Piedmont, authorities said.
The busy intersection was shut down as officials treated the injured bar-goers at the scene.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
A man at the scene of the accident told Channel 2 Action News his wife was riding the wagon for a bachelorette party when it crashed.
“She just said it flipped over — it was turning a certain direction ... and they were on the opposite side,” he said. “They kinda climbed over it to get out.”
The crash remains under investigation.
Pedal Pub Atlanta, the company which operates the mobile pubs, could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday.
Considered a “mobile bar,” the open-air pedal pub allows riders to sit on the sides of a trolley-shaped vehicle while consuming alcoholic beverages.
The Pedal Pub Atlanta website says the party bike, which can hold up to 15 people, allows people to pedal along a route and stop at area bars and restaurants in the city. Although riders are allowed to bring beer and wine on the pedal pubs, they cannot bring liquor or take drinks off of the ride.
Multiple other incidents involving pedal pubs or party buses have taken place since they began gaining traction in the country’s larger cities.
Just last year in Nashville, Tennessee, a 22-year-old Michigan man was seriously injured after he fell off a party bus and was run over. And in 2017, a woman in Detroit fractured her skull after a pedal tavern in which she was riding crashed into a quadricycle.
Nearly a decade earlier, in a case similar to Saturday’s, two people were hospitalized in Minneapolis when a pedal pub was going too fast down a hill as the driver tried to make a right turn and tipped onto its side.
Many cities have or are working to implement regulations as the “transportainment” industry continues to grow.
