By Shari Kaplan
An errant trash bucket on a Green Valley Disposal truck set off a chain reaction on Jan. 4 that resulted in uprooted telephone poles, broken traffic signals, toppled trees and snarled traffic at the intersection of Blossom Hill and Harwood roads.
According to Green Valley operations manager Phil Couchée, a trash-holding bucket and the hydraulic arm that moves it were not fully retracted to the position they should be in when the truck is driving city streets. The slightly raised bucket snagged some telephone wires or cables that, instead of snapping, continued to stretch until they pulled up the wooden poles to which they were attached.
The telephone poles proceeded to hit the southeast and northeast traffic signals in the intersection, according to a police report taken at the scene. The southeast signal struck a nearby business complex, and the northeast signal struck a tree, which in turn fell on a residence. No one was injured in the comedy of errors, which closed the intersection for approximately two hours. The incident happened at 9:41 a.m.
Couchée said that by the time the driver realized what had happened, it was already too late, and poles were falling. He added that all Green Valley trucks have or will have installed a special warning light to notify drivers when the bucket is not in the proper retracted position for safe driving on city streets.
The traffic signal division of the City of San Jose's Streets, Traffic and Parking Department estimates replacement signals will be installed within one to three weeks. In the meantime, small temporary signals are in place.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 15, 1997.
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