FDNY Food Run Turns Bad

Yikes - a cab
rear-ended a double-parked fire truck on Columbus and West 71st Street last night - and there had been two firefighters standing behind the truck. One of the men was thrown on the sidewalk while the other was pinned between the cab and the truck. Firefighters from midtown's Rescue 1 were getting dinner from area establishments - Big Nick's Too and Harry's Burritos - when the accident occured. The victims, John Walters and Mike Schunk, are expected to survive, but Schunk has a crushed leg while Walters is in critical condition. One witness tells the Post the cab "didn't even step on the brakes" while a police source told the Daily News, "He [the cabbie] may have been driving behind a larger vehicle and changed lanes to get around and ran smack into the parked vehicle." Clearly, standing on the street, even in front of a FDNY truck, is not safe. And we see FDNY trucks double parked on the Upper West Side all the time (they shop at Fairway!), so it's not unusual that they are there, but we suppose at 10:30PM, when traffic is lighter and cars go faster, anything can happen.

Photograph of fire truck from Triborough on Flickr

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By Jen Chung in News on July 20, 2006 9:31 AM

Comments [rss]

Zach

I'd bet the cabbie was writing whatever they write on their clipboards. I understand the need of the company to keep track of the fares, but I think it is irresponsible and extremely dangerous to have taxi drivers writing while driving (especially when I'm in the car). Why doesn't someone do something about this & I'm sure we'll have fewer accidents involving cabs.

Tim N.

Beat me to it, SD!

I mean, it's big, it's red, and it's big and red. And there's all those light thingees on it, what do you call them? Oh, yeah, *lights*

May I ask... did they find a cell phone in the cabbie's ear at the scene?

S.D.

Even at night when Passing another car at night, how does one NOT see a fire truck? Hope those two make a full recovery.

Interlard

Cabbies and all US drivers need proper training.

The habbit in the US is to drive inches away from the car in front. Cabbies change lanes without a moment's notice or a second's though.

Any idiot can see that when driving so close there is no time to stop in case of an emergency. The simple fact is, you need to drive 2 seconds behind the car in front if you are going to be able to stop in time. The laws of physics are the same in NYC as the rest of the universe.

Toby

There is a very good reason fire trucks double park when out on food runs. They are still on duty and need to go at a moment's notice.

Now I really think that NYC needs a intensive cabbie training scheme, as done in London. That and the hacks need to learn how to drive!