The NYPD is cracking down on private sanitation trucks via spot inspections and targeted enforcement this week, department officials said on Monday.
The stepped-up enforcement comes after a spate of fatal accidents involving private trash hauling companies, including one during the summer in which a civilian NYPD employee was killed after a tire flew off a sanitation truck and into his car.
Since 2016, there have been 20 fatalities associated with the industry, said Chief of Department Terence Monahan.
“New York City is the safest big city in America … and we will not tolerate people getting killed while crossing the street, crushed by 50,000 pounds of metal bearing down on them,” Monahan said, adding: “They’re running red lights, backing unsafely through intersections, we’ve looked at their equipment and there’s a lot of violations in the equipment making these trucks unsafe to drive.”
Hours after the announcement, a Five Star Carting truck hit a 43-year-old bicyclist in midtown, near the intersection of 47th Street and Fifth Avenue, cops said. The cyclist was reportedly taken to the hospital with injuries to his arm and leg, but was in stable condition, police said.
The driver stayed at the scene and was issued a summons, cops said.
The crackdown on the trucks began Sunday evening in the 19th and 62nd precincts, on the Upper East Side and in south Brooklyn, respectively.
For the next week, there will be at least one vehicle deployed in every precinct overnight to perform spot inspections. The NYPD’s highway units, Strategic Response Group, and the Motorized Carrier Unit will also conduct inspections. The effort is being carried out by the police department and the city’s Business Integrity Commission.
“We expect them to follow the rules of the road,” said Chief of Transportation Thomas Chan. “While this initiative is for this week, you can expect to see continued enforcement in this area.”
With Nicole Brown
