
New York City officials are calling for the suspension of a garbage truck driver’s license following his involvement in two fatal accidents in six months.
The accident happened on Monday, May 7th in The Bronx in New York City, New York.
According to Bronx News 12, the unnamed garbage truck driver was operating the vehicle on East 152nd Street and Jackson Avenue when he struck a pedestrian crossing the street, killing them.
The exact details of the fatal incident have not been released, but it is known that the pedestrian required a cane to walk and was not using a designated crosswalk at the time of the crash. Because of the pedestrian’s failure to use a crosswalk, the garbage truck driver is not currently facing any charges.
This fatal accident is the second of its kind in the last six months, both of which involved the same garbage truck driver, and now, city officials are calling for the suspension of the garbage truck driver’s license.
“This is too many incidents,” said Amril Hammer of Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit organization looking to reduce automobile use in New York City.
“If you are having this many incident and you are not rectifying the problem, then you need to be off the street,” Hammer added.
“We are anguished by this terrible tragedy and send our deepest, most heartfelt sympathies to the families of those who were lost,” said a representative from Sanitation Salvage, the owner of the garbage truck and employer of the driver.
However, the company also states that it believes revoking the driver’s and the company’s licenses is a bit harsh.
“We believe that our safety standards and our drivers’ record over the course of millions of miles traveled since the founding of our company in 1984 merit a continuation of our practice and do not warrant a revocation of our license,” Sanitation Salvage wrote in a statement.
Still, the Business Integrity Commission is investigating Sanitation Salvage in order to initiate the process of revoking the business’ license and is working with the New York Police Department to see what kind of action can be taken against the garbage truck driver, despite his current lack of citations in regards to the incident.