Dallas city vehicles involved in thousands of costly crashes

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Collision involving City of Dallas Sanitation truck (2014).

DALLAS - A FOX 4 Investigation has uncovered that Dallas city vehicles driven by city employees were involved in 2,500 crashes over a period of 20 months.

That is about four crashes a day and includes all city departments.

Out of 2,500 crashes from January 2015 to August 2016, the city found its own drivers at fault for 1,300 collisions.

Full Investigation: Dallas city vehicle crashes cost taxpayers millions

Many are repeat offenders. From January 2015 to August 2016, 134 Sanitation Department workers were involved in multiple crashes. Eighty-four Dallas Police Department employees were involved in multiple crashes.

Keith Nordin is a Dallas resident who believes the city is responsible for damaging his fence.

Nordin was out of town last summer when a neighbor called 911 and told police that a City of Dallas garbage truck rammed into a utility pole, then took off.

The pole fell over, knocking out power to the block and causing about $6,000 worth of damage to Nordin’s fence.

Nordin filed a claim with the city.

Because it was a hit-and-run, Nordin couldn’t prove the damage was done by a city garbage truck and the city denied his claim.

"That's what really irked me,” Nordin said. “They've chosen not to take responsibility.”

Nordin is one of more than 1,300 people in Dallas in two years who filed this type of claim for costly damage caused by city vehicles.

FOX 4 shared its findings with city council member Philip Kingston, who is the vice chair of the city’s Budget, Finance & Audit Committee.

Kingston was so surprised that he didn’t think the numbers were right.

“That sounds incredibly shocking to me,” Kingston said. “In fact, I’ve asked city staff to verify that those are the right numbers, because it just seems impossible.”

But, it was the city’s own data that revealed dozens of drivers with three or more crashes on their record.

“If we have people who just can't drive who are being asked to drive, that's a problem,” Kingston said.