It’s a miracle that no one was injured in a tractor-trailer truck accident that occurred Monday morning in Manhattan around 8:00 am. The morning commute was light that day as most New Yorkers were observing the Martin Luther King Day Holiday and were off from work. As the tractor-trailer was crossing the intersection of 23rd Street and 6th Ave, the trailer disconnected from the truck cab and slammed into the entrance of the subway station for the F and M lines. The trailer not only blocked the access to the subway entrance but all also to all the 6th Avenue lanes. The police temporarily closed 6th and 7th Avenues to the traffic while they were towing away the rogue trailer. The entrance of the subway that had just reopened in November after 4 months of renovations was slightly damaged and was temporarily closed again. Read more in the Gothamist
Dramatic increase of NYC truck accidents
Truck accidents have been increasing dramatically in New York City over the last few years. In 2013 the monthly number of truck accidents in New York City was around 500 to 600 monthly. In 2014 it increased slightly and the NYPD was recording between 600 and 700 truck accidents every month. In October 2015, the number of truck crashes reached 827. The number of truck crashes recorded that specific month was a record number for 2013, 2014 and 2015.
At the beginning of 2016, the number of truck accidents suddenly rose to 1017 in March 2016, then 1261 in April 2016. In May 2016 the number of truck accidents jumped to 1725 and the following month it reached 1783. These numbers were almost triple the number of truck accident recorded one year earlier and they never went down again. This sudden increase in truck accidents in New York City could be explained by the boom in construction in the city and by people changing their shopping habits. As more more New Yorkers are shopping online, more and more trucks are circulating in the city to deliver goods.
