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37697. Remember that number.
OK, I was just walking down 9th Avenue in Chelsea, admiring the work they’re doing on the new separated bike lane. (They’re currently putting in traffic islands at the start of each block to help keep cars and bikes apart – what a great idea.) Just then, a garbage truck comes barreling down the bike lane (12:30 p.m. around 19th or 20th streets, just before turning right onto a westbound street). OK, I’ll give our hard-working civil servants the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was going to pick up trash on that block and was saving his herniated disc from having to drag a garbage pail an extra four feet or so before hoisting its contents into his refuse recovery vehicle. Well, no one really had their trash out, so it wasn’t garbage day and he didn’t even slow down to pick up the overflowing municipal garbage pail at the corner.
Which is why I’ve been reciting the number 37697 on my way back to the office. That is the identification number on the upper left of his truck. Wish I had a nice digital camera to capture the moment. The whole incident reminds me of the death of Eric Ng, an NYU student run down by a car that careened down the Hudson River Park bike path last December.
Tags:
bike lane, chelsea, eric ng, garbage truck
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Posted on 10/11/2007
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