Bloomington - Safety Record
Proponents of Government Managed Trash Collection continue to claim that safety will improve if citizen choice is taken away. This claim all hinges on the question of whether there is a safety problem in the first place.
Garbage Haulers for Citizen Choice (GHCC) quickly determined that no safety problem exists in Bloomington, because garbage trucks simply do not get into accidents in the city, according to the Bloomington Police Department.
Bloomington Public Works Director Karl Keel stated in a July 11, 2014 memo to the City Council that, "Historically, garbage trucks have not contributed to the accident history in Bloomington. In fact, staff is not aware of a single incident involving a garbage truck in recent history." (link)
GHCC conducted exhaustive research on this issue. We reviewed city records dating back to the beginning of the city's record management system in November 2004, through March 28, 2015. We reviewed all reports involving all garbage truck companies known to do business in the city. While the city has only focused on residential licensed haulers, GHCC reviewed police reports involving both residential and commercial licensed haulers, regardless of whether they were actually doing business in the city at the time of the accident or were simply passing through to another community.
Since city councilmembers were raising this safety issue, we also thought it prudent to research Bloomington city vehicle accidents, since oversight of this is clearly a responsibility of the city council.
A summary of results from November 2004 to March 28, 2015 state:
Number of bicycle accidents with Garbage Trucks = 0
Number of bicycle accidents with City Vehicles = 3
Number of vehicle accidents at fault with Garbage Trucks = 0
Number of vehicle accidents at fault with City Vehicles = 100+
The number of city vehicle accidents are too numerous to list in their entirety.
In more than one instance, city employees were distracted by phones, computers, etc. and rear ended vehicles stopped at red lights or when vehicles in front of them yielded to cross traffic before making a right turn.
In one situation, a city employee crashed a city vehicle into their own personal vehicle.
In another instance, a city employee crashed into an overhead street light because their box was up.
In another instance, one city truck drove off the road and had to be rescued by another city truck. When chaining the trucks up to tow the first vehicle out. The driver of the towing vehicle got out without setting the emergency break. That vehicle went down the hill and crashed also.
At the Mall of America, a city vehicle decided to drive the wrong way into a restricted area and triggered a terrorism barrier which they promptly crashed into.
The only accident on record involving a garbage truck in the City of Bloomington was a recent situation where the garbage truck was the victim of an accident. In this case, the driver of a passenger car was texting on their phone and drove through a red light, hitting another passenger car which then crashed into the garbage truck waiting at the light. The texting driver was ticketed and prosecuted.
Facts clearly demonstrate that garbage trucks are not a safety issue in the City of Bloomington.
Proponents of Government Managed Trash Collection continue to claim that safety will improve if citizen choice is taken away. This claim all hinges on the question of whether there is a safety problem in the first place.
Garbage Haulers for Citizen Choice (GHCC) quickly determined that no safety problem exists in Bloomington, because garbage trucks simply do not get into accidents in the city, according to the Bloomington Police Department.
Bloomington Public Works Director Karl Keel stated in a July 11, 2014 memo to the City Council that, "Historically, garbage trucks have not contributed to the accident history in Bloomington. In fact, staff is not aware of a single incident involving a garbage truck in recent history." (link)
GHCC conducted exhaustive research on this issue. We reviewed city records dating back to the beginning of the city's record management system in November 2004, through March 28, 2015. We reviewed all reports involving all garbage truck companies known to do business in the city. While the city has only focused on residential licensed haulers, GHCC reviewed police reports involving both residential and commercial licensed haulers, regardless of whether they were actually doing business in the city at the time of the accident or were simply passing through to another community.
Since city councilmembers were raising this safety issue, we also thought it prudent to research Bloomington city vehicle accidents, since oversight of this is clearly a responsibility of the city council.
A summary of results from November 2004 to March 28, 2015 state:
Number of bicycle accidents with Garbage Trucks = 0
Number of bicycle accidents with City Vehicles = 3
Number of vehicle accidents at fault with Garbage Trucks = 0
Number of vehicle accidents at fault with City Vehicles = 100+
The number of city vehicle accidents are too numerous to list in their entirety.
In more than one instance, city employees were distracted by phones, computers, etc. and rear ended vehicles stopped at red lights or when vehicles in front of them yielded to cross traffic before making a right turn.
In one situation, a city employee crashed a city vehicle into their own personal vehicle.
In another instance, a city employee crashed into an overhead street light because their box was up.
In another instance, one city truck drove off the road and had to be rescued by another city truck. When chaining the trucks up to tow the first vehicle out. The driver of the towing vehicle got out without setting the emergency break. That vehicle went down the hill and crashed also.
At the Mall of America, a city vehicle decided to drive the wrong way into a restricted area and triggered a terrorism barrier which they promptly crashed into.
The only accident on record involving a garbage truck in the City of Bloomington was a recent situation where the garbage truck was the victim of an accident. In this case, the driver of a passenger car was texting on their phone and drove through a red light, hitting another passenger car which then crashed into the garbage truck waiting at the light. The texting driver was ticketed and prosecuted.
Facts clearly demonstrate that garbage trucks are not a safety issue in the City of Bloomington.
