Crashes involving private sanitation trucks have doubled in the last two
years, highlighting the need for stricter regulations of the industry where
drivers often work long hours on grueling routes, according to a report by
Transportation Alternatives and a coalition of groups advocating for reform.
The analysis of federal Department of Transportation data found that the 20
largest waste haulers in the city were involved in 35 crashes between March
2014 and February 2016, including two fatal crashes.
Since March 2016, the top 20 trash haulers were involved in 67 crashes,
including five fatalities.
³Poor safety practices and reckless driving come with real human cost, the
report co-published by Transform Don¹t Trash NYC reads.
In July, a driver for the city¹s largest private garbage company, Action
Carting, fatally struck a cyclist in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The driver was
not charged.
Commercial collectors¹ woeful record is in contrast to declining traffic
fatalities citywide. Last year, 214 people 101 of them pedestrians died
in crashes. That¹s compared to 299 deaths 184 of them pedestrians killed
in 2013.
Justin Wood, an attorney with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, said
that the industry is plagued by exhausted drivers on shifts as long as 18
hours.
There’s enormous pressure on the driverThat translates into pressure to
speed, to run red lights. Then you have a huge amount of really long
shifts,² said Wood, who wrote the report.
The report says the most obvious fix is a transition to a system in which
companies vie for collection zones as they do in other major cities. A
city commission is studying the issue.
Currently, trucks must reach customers scattered around the city.
Commercial trash haulers in other major American cities do not have
comparable records. The largest companies in New York experience over three
times more crashes per driver than drivers in Los Angeles, Seattle and San
Francisco, according to the report.
Wood said the city should tell commercial companies that safety records will
influence bids for collection zones, once they are implemented.
That motivates companies to start investing in this now, Wood said.
To read the full story, visit
www.nydailynews.com/new-york/private-garbage-truck-crashes-climb-spurring-call-new-rules-article-1.3922556.