re: Endymion says it cannot reschedule due to tractor shortage, new policy

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They got our money for the year and they are not about to worry about 2020.

Man, they probably won’t even feel obligated to float riders from 14 + on of any type of discount or credit toward 2021 dues.

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Eh, if you think about it from a cost standpoint they have already incurred whatever expenses they were looking at this year. They don’t get a refund on the parade costs, and something tells me there will be some additional legal expenses in the near future.

That said, you’d like to think they would find a way to give the riders a discount for 2021. Supply and demand, I guess.

To the larger point of the thread, it seems obvious that there are two ways to prevent this kind of thing from happening:
A) Keep people away from the floats, or
B) Design the floats so that people can’t get under the wheels.

Banning tandem floats doesn’t really solve either of these problems. I get that barricading all of the routes in their entirety would probably be prohibitively expensive, and policing those barricades would be a monumental task. But as others have stated, designing safer floats should not be an issue given the resources that the Krewes have at their disposal. It feels to me like this will be resolved before 2021.

Mardi Gras is very safe. Some accidents will happen whenever you have this volume of people assembled for any activity.

The safety of Mardi Gras is not an opinion it is a fact. This was a tragic week but over the last 60 years you can count them on one hand.

All that being said there are certainly some improvements to be made albeit minor.

The gaps in the tandems should be covered by an accordian type of material. Hell, the netting that surrounds trampolines would have been enough to save the woman from her own foolishness.

There may be some more sophisticated technology to be explored as others have mentioned...kill switches or some way to communicate with the driver.

Also some kind of wheel guard that could prevent a roll over of a person even if it didn't completely prevent injury.

The city forbids tossing of certain throws like coconuts but the policy of handing them off the float creates dangerous situations. This needs to be reexamined. I believe handing coconuts and Muses shoes is more dangerous than tossing.

Lastly, riders need to be encouraged to not throw ahead of the float, or back behind an area they have already passed. Many of these throws end up in front of their float or in front of the one behind them.

Also, enforce the no throw rule while stopped. This was a good idea now ignored.

The largest floats should have walking chaperones. This used to be common. One per axel maybe.

Again. Mardi Gras is safe as is but a few relatively minor changes might have prevented one if not both of the tradgedies this week.

Have a safe Mardi Gras!

Here is a take I just thought of. Where do floats pulled by tractors keep their generators for all the lights and stereo systems?

I am at Cleopatra in Houma tonight and see at least 2 or 3 generators in the bed of the trucks. Just to keep the speakers and lights going.

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no throw rule while stopped

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I’ve ridden two years and haven’t heard of this. Along with some kind of sensor system that would alert the driver when people were too close, this could lead to crowd-sourced compliance.

The generators aren’t your normal tailgate run lights and speakers generators. The bigger floats have the big generators that you aren’t putting in the back of a pickup.