By: Pat Austin
SHREVEPORT — Mardi
Gras season this year has brought both raucous, bacchanalian festivities true
to our “laissez les bon temps rouler” mantra, as well as terrible
tragedy.
In New Orleans another
terrible accident claimed the life of a man attending the Endymion parade
Saturday night. As with the accident the previous week in which a woman was
killed during the Nyx parade, this accident also involved a tandem float. For
the unfamiliar, tandem floats usually belong to large super krewes and are
multiple floats joined together by some kind of hitch. Some can be several
sections and be as long as 300 feet.
In the accident Saturday night, Joseph Sampson, 58, jumped
up to catch a throw, landed on some beads, slipped and fell, and somehow ended
up under a float. His friends tried to grab him and pull him out while another tried
to alert the driver to stop, an impossible task over the noise. As with the
accident the previous week, the parade was terminated.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has now issued a directive
that no more tandem floats will be allowed, thus causing krewes with tandem
floats to scramble and make adjustments so they can roll in these last few days
of Mardi Gras season.
Of course, some people agree and others disagree with the
order. Everyone recognizes the tragedy of the deaths but contend that accidents
are bound to happen and perhaps error in judgement should be considered. The
woman the previous week was supposedly attempting to cross over between the two
floats, got tangled and tripped over the hitch, and went under the float. No
safety studies have been done or formal reports on either accident and tandem
floats have been in use for many years. The disgruntled are calling Cantrell’s
order a “knee jerk” reaction in an attempt to bolster her low popularity rate.
Here in Shreveport, in northwest Louisiana, we have three
large parades over two weeks. Some portions of the parades have barricades but
it would be almost impossible to place barricades along an entire parade route
and it is unclear whether that would have averted the situation in NOLA. Many
of these parades wind through neighborhoods. At some point you can’t legislate
complete and total safety.
Mardi Gras is a major money maker for NOLA and Louisiana
tourism. It is unlikely, as tragic as these events are, that any significant
changes will take place; tandem floats may be back next year after safety
studies, or whenever there is a new mayor.
In the meantime, roll on.
Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.
