These comments were found at an article on bikeportland.org talking about the Seattle accident and the fact that the same company is operating in Portland:

http://bikeportland.org/2008/08/07/fatal-pedicab-crash-in-seattle-cab-company-operates-large-portland-fleet/

BS
August 7th, 2008 15:00

I operate a cab for cascadia, and most of the Chinese cabs they run dont have a backup brake, just the band brake, which can be operated with either your hand on a lever or a push pedal with your foot. The band brakes are rod actuated and do not have any kind of redundant system built in. I have been begging them to put front brakes on their cabs fearing an incident just like this one.

Anonymous
August 8th, 2008 19:08

I witnessed the pedicab crash in Belltown. I was one of the people who reported to the police that from what I saw it seemed as if the brakes had failed. The driver was screaming at the top of his lungs “I can’t stop, I can’t stop” and both the driver and passengers were screaming and terrified. If the driver had been trying to stop and the brakes were working wouldn’t it have slowed even slightly? The pedicab did not slow down at all, even gaining speed by the time it entered the intersection. This was all in the blink of an eye, they were going so fast.

I have not been able to sleep since witnessing the accident. At the time I did not understand what was happening, it all happened so quickly. I am deeply mournful for the family of this gentleman and all the circumstances surrounding this are incredibly sad. May he rest in peace, and may his family find some closure in what I believe - having seen the entire thing - that God must’ve decided to take him. Everyone was powerless to stop it.