NYC Garbage Truck Outfitted with Safety Technology on Display at UN Meetings

A garbage truck with innovative safety technology installed was on display at recent United Nations (UN) meetings. New York City's Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) and Department of Parks and Recreation are taking part in a safety initiative called Together for Safer Roads (TSR).

Through its Global Leadership Council for Fleet Safety, TSR is partnering with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center and TSR members to make direct-vision cab design a fleet industry standard. According to proponents of the standard, drivers of trucks, buses, and other large vehicles would need to have the capability to see “vulnerable road users," like pedestrians. The initiative will give fleet managers and operators data and analysis on how safe  — or dangerous — vehicles are in relation to driver blind zones, including developing a standard for rating the vehicles and a database of those ratings.

One of the Parks Department's garbage trucks that is outfitted to be part of the initiative was on display at UN meetings on road safety on June 30 and July 1, according to a news release from DCAS. Nine more garbage trucks will be outfitted with the hardware this month. DCAS Deputy Commissioner and NYC Chief Fleet Officer Keith Kerman said the system will involve in-cab alerts and camera systems for the driver to be alerted to vulnerable road users. TSR will work with DCAS and the Volpe Center to analyze the data and establish reporting on near misses.

DCAS plans to present its findings at its Vision Zero Fleet Safety Forum on October 25.

New York City is one of only two pilot cities globally that is involved in the "Truck of the Future" program. 

The city's involvement in the TSR initiative is part of its Vision Zero initiative, aimed at improving street safety, which it has been running since 2014.