“I don’t think that there are appropriate guidelines in place to make sure that people are safe," Jim Schmitz of "Safe Fun Nashville" told Inside Edition. Inside Edition tagged along on a recent party bike tour for a man's 21st birthday.
From farm tractors pulling wagon-loads of revelers, to trucks carrying hot tubs full of boozing birthday and bachelorette parties, the so-called “transportainment” industry is rocking in downtown Nashville.
But some citizens are worried that the bars on wheels aren’t safe.
Video shows a party bus come to a sudden halt after someone runs in front of it, sending passengers flying.
In a video of another incident, an apparently drunken man, who was not a paying rider, climbed onto a pedal tavern, before stumbling off into oncoming traffic. His head bounced off the side of a passing car. Luckily, he walked away unfazed. The owners of the pedal tavern told Inside Edition that the man falling into the street was not a paying customer and they had told him to leave. They also say they screen guests for intoxication and check all IDs.
The video was posted by “Safe Fun Nashville,” which promotes safe partying in the city. Jim Schmitz is their spokesperson.
“Do you think that pedal taverns, pedal pubs, bars on wheels are safe?” Inside Edition investigative correspondent Lisa Guerrero asked.
“Right now, no they're not,” Schmitz said. “I don’t think that there are appropriate guidelines in place to make sure that people are safe.”
Of all the bars on wheels, the most popular are party bikes, where you pedal your way through the streets of music city.
Emmit Martin is the owner of Sprocket Rocket Party Bikes. He has nine bikes and two party trucks and says he averages 100,000 riders a year.
“Some people have said that these kinds of vehicles are dangerous, so what is your response to that?” Guerrero asked.
“I think that they haven't been on them, they don't know the true story. There's no way you can say it's dangerous,” Martin said.
He says the company has had zero accidents.
“We have a lot of strict rules, and people still have fun,” Martin said.
But across the country, Inside Edition found crashes involving similar party vehicles.
A woman in Detroit sued a pedal pub after her skull was fractured in a crash. Twelve people were injured, four seriously, in a pedal pub crash in Minneapolis. In another incident, two people were hospitalized after a pedal pub tipped over.
Inside Edition tagged along on a recent Sprocket Rocket Party Bikes party bike tour with a group celebrating a reveler’s 21st birthday.
There was a quick safety briefing before embarking. The party bike averages about 10 miles per hour and drinking games are encouraged.
When asked if the group felt safe during the ride, they said yes.
But local residents like Schmitz want the city to invoke stricter regulations.
“We've seen the videos, and those are just the ones that have been captured on video of people falling off. It’s just a matter of time before it happens again,” Schmitz said.
