Friday, October 14, 2016, 11:30 am News Flash Archive

Early Thursday morning, a Greenwood garbage truck drove in an extremely reckless manner near the new McDonalds restaurant across from the Country Club.

This latest incident calls into question whether city officials in charge of garbage services have done enough to ensure the safety of Greenwood's citizens, after several instances of dangerous driving were brought to their attention.

As first reported by The Taxpayers Channel last Tuesday, several citizens have reported garbage trucks engaged in dangerous driving, and in one case, colliding with a citizen's car and doing major damage. The original report may be seen here: Beware Reckless Garbage Trucks in Greenwood.

In the latest report, Tricia Stanton was driving north on Hwy 430 approaching the intersection with Highway 82 at 7:50 a.m. yesterday. Mrs. Stanton was commuting to her job at a local business, when she observed city garbage truck # 231 exit the subdivision behind the old JJ Ferguson gravel company plant. The garbage truck entered the center turning lane of Hwy 430 and traveled north down the middle of the road.

Highway 430 at that point has five lanes, two for southbound traffic, a center turning lane, and two lanes traveling north.

Mrs. Stanton believed the truck was about to merge into the inside north-bound lane in which she was traveling, so she changed lanes to the right-most outside lane heading north.

Quite suddenly, the garbage truck lurched from the center turning lane, across the left inside northbound lane, and into the far outside right northbound lane. Stanton had to slam on her brakes and come to a stop to avoid the garbage truck colliding with her vehicle.

Meanwhile, Brian Phillips has learned that he will have to pay $1000 out of pocket to pay for the repair of his brand new car which was severely damaged when a city garbage truck backed into his vehicle at the corner of East Park Avenue and Poplar street on September 26.

The city has refused to acknowledge any liability, and has refused to pay for the extensive damage to Mr. Phillips' vehicle, now estimated at $5,500 by Cannon Motors.

John Pittman Hey
The Taxpayers Channel

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