Friday, July 31, 2009

Tieleman eyewitness to garbage truck crash in downtown Vancouver


Some people say there's a lot of garbage on my blog but today it's literally true.

I've just been an eyewitness to the potentially deadly crash of a garbage truck in downtown Vancouver, at the intersection of Davie and Pacific Boulevard.

I was stopped in my car at the intersection heading west on Pacific when a BFI garbage truck turned left from Davie onto Pacific.


It began to tip over and then crashed on its right side, ending up right next to a bus stop and onto the sidewalk. I immediately called 911 to request ambulance and police to attend.




Fortunately there did not appear to be any pedestrians in the path of the truck, although I could not be sure from my vantage point.


Another witness I spoke to who was on the sidewalk said she did not see anyone there either but police were checking with flashlights underneath the truck when I left after giving them a statement.

The driver was removed from the vehicle by ambulance paramedics and taken to hospital. He was walking but indicated his shoulder was injured and was obviously shaken up.

From my perspective it did not appear that the truck was turning left at undue speed - I was quite surprised to see it tip off as it rounded the corner - but not being a truck driver, I cannot say that with authority.

All in a day's work for an active blogger!

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I watch those garbage trucks operating every morning in the wee hours and to say the least,they should be monitored a bit closer ,those dudes run those trucks like sports cars,it's not coincidence that they hit overpasses!

Anonymous said...

Where are BC truck inspectors on this one? If one can tip over in an easy turn, what of other of the fleet vehicles maintained by BFI.

A Pedestrian said...

My wife witnessed it from the other side of the street, just as she was walking up to use the cross-walk, yes .... the one he flipped over on. Amazing, had she been there a minute earlier, the mother of two little boys would probably not be here ... something to think about. So when you're racing your car around trying to get somewhere like a "mad-man", look around and slow down. The police told me, they wrote him a ticket ... wow, (rolling my eyes), they're really on top of things.