Trash truck driver flouts traffic laws

From KRQE-TV.com - Investigative reporting - ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - When trash day arrives in one central Albuquerque neighborhood, residents have to remain on their toes.
“I don’t want to get run over crossing the street,” said Tamara Righetini, a resident of the Country Club Neighborhood near downtown. “(It’s) really, really fast – like haulin’ butt through the neighborhood.” She’s talking about the driver of a 30-ton City of Albuquerque recycling truck, which News 13 tracked for a month. We caught him barreling down residential streets, ignoring traffic laws and endangering pedestrians, bicyclists and other drivers. For example, on May 25, our cameras recorded him turning the wrong way from Park Avenue onto Silver Avenue SE, a small one-way street. The driver could have legally made the turn just one block away. On June 1, we caught him swinging out wide into the on-coming traffic lane in order to make an illegal right turn from Alcalde Place SW on to San Patricio Avenue. No-right-hand turn signs clearly show his turn was not allowed. News 13 wanted to see what the driver had to say about his driving habits, so reporter Kim Holland caught up with him on his regular route through the neighborhood.“We’ve got you going the wrong way several times coming in on Alcalde,” Holland said. “How come you’re going the wrong way on the streets?” “You can call 3-1-1,” the driver said with a smile before driving away. That number is for citizens to register complaints with the city or ask questions. News 13 showed video of the violations to the driver’s boss, city solid waste director John Soladay. The majority of drivers for the city’s 175 trash trucks operate them safely, Soladay said. He said he receives a couple hundred complains per year about them, which is relatively few considering the seven million miles per year they drive. Still, a month after we brought our concerns to Soladay, the same driver remains on the same route. Read more

Trash truck driver flouts traffic laws