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What If There Was A Way To Know Exactly When A Sanitation Truck Was Going To Block Your Path?
By
Scott Heins
Published Jan 5, 2017
Modified Jan 5, 2017
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By
Scott Heins
Published Jan 5, 2017
Modified Jan 5, 2017
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For City Council Member David Greenfield, the most frustrating thing about life in New York isn't the prohibitively expensive housing market, subway delays, or lack of police accountability. No sir, the real injustice is slow moving sanitation trucks, and Greenfield now has a plan to rescue drivers from their smelly wakes, with the help of a GPS-driven app.
According to CBS, Greenfield plans to introduce a bill that would require NYC's Sanitation Department to offer up-to-date data on the exact location of collection trucks, so that drivers can track and avoid the creeping rubbish-crushers in real time. The Council Member called the new measure "a win win," for both rushed drivers and sanitation workers who often have to deal with motorists' irate honking.
Releasing GPS data on the exact location of trash trucks is nothing new for the DOS—during winter snowstorms residents can track truck movement to help determine which city streets have been plowed.
“I want to make it real-time, every day, just put the information out there,” Greenfield told CBS. Beyond matters of driver convenience, a "trash tracking" app could help reduce the health risks associated with breathing in diesel truck emissions. A 2016 study found that health risks associated with sanitation truck emissions were most prevalent in the South Bronx and Northern Brooklyn.
Tagged
department of sanitation
garbage trucks
sanitation
Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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