Cement trucks were involved in two recent serious trucking accidents recently. On January 18, a woman on the upper East Side of Manhattan was hit by a cement truck, severing her leg. The second truck accident occurred in the Bronx on January 20 when a driver lost control of his cement truck and crashed into an apartment building. The driver died at the scene.
A previous blog discussed the Bronx accident. The East Side accident occurred when a 63-year-old woman was crossing Second Avenue around 10 a.m. when she was hit and dragged by the cement truck belonging to Queens Ready Mix Concrete. The truck was turning right onto 2nd Avenue from 68th Street. The woman was in the cross walk and had the walk signal.
Her leg was severed below the knee. The driver reported that he did not see her and only knew that he had hit something when a pedestrian waved at him to stop.
The driver remained on the scene, holding the head of the victim until the ambulance came. He said that she was lying under the cement mixer in agony and that he held her head until the ambulance arrived. And transported her to Bellevue Hospital. Other passersby also stopped to help.
The 52-year-old Jackson Heights driver said, “I’m really sorry for her. I want to know how she didn’t see my truck, such a big truck?”
The woman is listed in critical condition but is expected to survive.
Source: Daily News, “New York City traffic accidents kill 2, seriously injure 1,” Jan. 18, 2014.