Multiple people were injured Thursday night when a vehicle struck a pedal tavern in downtown Nashville, sending patients to hospitals and drawing a heavy response from police and fire crews to the busy entertainment corridor. The collision happened around 8:30 p.m. at 11th Avenue and Demonbreun Street in downtown Nashville.
According to WSMV, James Matthews, a public information officer for the Metro Nashville Department of Emergency Communications, confirmed that multiple people were hurt and taken to hospitals following the crash. Several Metro Nashville Police units and Nashville Fire crews were dispatched to the scene, the outlet reported. WSMV described the story as developing as its crews worked to learn more details Thursday night.
Pedal taverns, sometimes called party bikes, are a fixture of downtown Nashville nightlife. The vehicles are part electric and controlled by a driver at the front, while passengers also pedal as they drink at an onboard bar, according to a description from CNN following a similar crash elsewhere. The exact circumstances of Thursday's collision, including what caused it and whether anyone faces citations, have not been released.
A Fleet Already Under Scrutiny
Nashville has been wrestling with questions about its so-called transpotainment fleet for months. A WKRN report said Nashville has 27 ETV operators. The Metro Nashville Transportation Licensing Commission awarded one permit each to two companies tasked with developing ADA-compliant vehicles.
The scrutiny intensified after a man from Michigan fell off a party bus in late July, which the station reported helped spark calls for tighter regulation. A petition following the incident has drawn almost 2,300 signatures, per the same account. The city has also discussed proposed rule changes, Newschannel5 reported.
Concerns Over Visibility And Speed
Some Nashville drivers have long complained that the slow-moving party vehicles are hard to spot in traffic. Many of these vehicles travel 45 percent slower than the average car on the road, according to Fox 17. “I definitely think the pedal taverns can be unsafe as you're driving through. It's really difficult to tell where they are all the time,” one resident told the station. A 2018 Fox 17 report said the city barred pedal taverns, pedicabs and other low-speed vehicles from operating between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and again between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Separately, a man was involved in an incident with a pedal tavern.
Pedal-Pub Crashes Elsewhere Have Turned Serious
Nashville is not alone in confronting the risks of party bikes. In Atlanta, a 2022 crash injured all 15 passengers aboard a pedal pub, with two suffering critical injuries and three others in serious condition, according to CNN. The driver in that case was charged with driving under the influence and cited for a business permit violation.
Other cities have seen similar incidents. A 2013 pedal-pub rollover in Minneapolis injured 10 patrons, two of whom required hospitalization, according to Burns & Wilcox. A woman sued a Detroit-based pedal-pub operator in 2018 after suffering a fractured skull and other injuries in a crash, and in Tennessee, a patron sued a pedal bar company and driver in 2017 after her foot slipped off a pedal and was dragged along the pavement, the insurance firm reported.
Downtown Nashville has also seen other recent incidents involving vehicles and pedestrians. Two pedestrians were hurt in a separate hit-and-run downtown, both suffering non-life-threatening injuries with one hospitalized, according to WKRN. No further details on the condition of those injured in Thursday's pedal tavern crash, the cause of the collision or any potential citations have been released. This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
