New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio has signed a bill that requires side guards on 10,000 city and private refuse trucks by 2024 to reduce deaths and serious injuries during collisions with passengers.
NYC Mayor Mandates Sideguards for Refuse Trucks
New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio has signed a bill that requires side guards on 10,000 city and private refuse trucks by 2024 to reduce deaths and serious injuries during collisions with passengers.
by Staff
June 23, 2015
Screenshot via NYC Mayor's Office/YouTube.
1 min to read
The bill, which was signed June 16, covers trucks that weigh more than 10,000 lbs., including Class 3 and higher. Among the 10,000 trucks, 4,500 operate in the city fleet, including 2,700 Department of Sanitation vehicles, and 5,500 to 6,000 private trash haulers regulated by the Business Integrity Commission, reports StreetsBlog NYC.
The timeline for the legislation allows the Department of Sanitation to phase in the side guards on new trucks rather than replacing existing vehicles. The National Waste and Recycling Association supported the bill.
The city began adding the side guards in February to 240 of its medium-duty trucks in an initiative that was part of the city's Vision Zero plan. The guards cost about $3,000 each to purchase and install.
The city moved forward with the installation of the side guards after cyclist Hoyt Jacobs — a 36-year-old poet and Queens College adjunct professor — was struck and killed in Long Island City by a sanitation truck Jan. 17.
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