Amsterdam garbage truckers have warned of crowd risks, driver says after fatal accident
Garbage truck drivers in Amsterdam have been warning for ages about the risks of driving in the crowded city, one driver told AT5 after a fatal accident on Passerdersgracht on Monday. One of his colleagues hit a 69-year-old pedestrian. The American woman did not survive.
According to the driver, he and his colleagues have been pushing management for a mandatory passenger in the garbage truck, to check the blind spot. “But they don’t agree with that upstairs in the office,” he told the broadcaster.
The driver said that the fatal accident has been keeping him and his colleagues up at night. They all experience near-misses every day. “And now it’s happened,” he said. “I already know, the guy who was driving, he is devastated. Two families have been destroyed. That of the deceased and that of the driver.”
His colleague was alone in the truck when the accident happened. That has been pretty much standard since the rise of underground waste containers in the city has made the two old-fashioned bag-throwers redundant. The driver AT5 spoke to says he has been trying to make it clear for a year that one more person in the truck is necessary to keep an eye on the blind spot. But so far without response.
“The city has exploded in 15 years in terms of people and traffic,” he said. The garbage truck drivers work long shifts - his shift starts at 6:30 a.m. and ends at 3:30 pm. - and they no longer have their own neighborhoods, meaning that they sometimes have to drive a route they are less familiar with. The drivers also no longer have their own garbage truck, he said. They drive vehicles that vary in size and model, and each requires a different driving style.
Despite Monday’s fatal accident, the garbage truck driver doesn’t expect anything to change. “Up until now, management has told us: ‘Turn off your radio and drive with your window down.’ But our truck already produces 110 decibels. The guy who had this terrible accident on Monday had driven on for 40 meters and had not heard or noticed what had happened.”
Fred Bos of the trade union FNV told AT5 that there has been a major staff shortage for some time. “There is a great need for good drivers.” He doesn’t hear the complaint that drivers don’t want to drive alone very often, but he does recognize complaints about how busy the streets are. He also regularly hears that drivers want a camera system that can look around the truck in 360 degrees, but their requests have been rejected time and again.
Amsterdam alderman Hester van Buren told the broadcaster she understands that the garbage truck drivers in the city are upset. “This tragic accident affects us all,” she said. “However, I think it is important that we first await the investigation into how this could have happened. I do not want to anticipate those results. Our attention is currently focused on the relatives of the victim and our driver and his family.”
“We offer support to all colleagues,” she said. “Including drivers who are not directly involved but are close colleagues or employees who have had to deal with this in the past.”
