10 people injured in crash between a fire truck and a minivan in Brooklyn, NYC

10 people were injured in a fire truck accident in Brooklyn, NYC, last Friday. The accident occurred on Friday afternoon around 3:00 pm on South Fifth Street at the intersection of Driggs Avenue located right under the Williamsburg Bridge. The fire truck collided with a minivan with 8 occupants on board. They were all transported to the hospital to be treated for non life threatening injuries. Two firefighters were also injured and transported to the hospital. The police are still investigating the exact cause of the accident. (Read more in the New York Post)

One fire truck accident every other day in NYC

In a busy city like New York, fire truck accidents and other emergency vehicle accidents occur on a regular basis. According to the most recent statistics, 70 fire truck accidents were reported by the NYPD between the beginning of this year and the end of April, which is at least one accident every other day.

23 people killed in fire truck accidents in the US in 2019

According to Injury Facts, among all 3 types of emergency vehicles, police, ambulances and fire trucks, fire trucks are the less dangerous. In 2019,  170 people died in  crashes involving emergency vehicles in the US. Fire truck accidents killed 23 of them, ambulance 33 and police 114.  63% of the fatalities were occupants of non emergency vehicles, 21 % were pedestrians, 10% were driving the emergency vehicle and 5% were passengers in the emergency vehicle. Almost 75% of the accidents involved multiple vehicles while the rest of the accidents only involved the emergency vehicle.

Blood bath

Friday was a very bad day for road users in NYC. That same day, also in Brooklyn a couple on a moped died after being hit by a truck earlier in the morning and later at night a cyclist was killed in a car accident in the Bronx.  The day after an e-scooter rider was killed by an Amazon van (see previous blog).

NYC Fire Truck Accident Data Source: NYPD