Yesterday, someone died at the Stony Brook Car Wash on Rt. 22, North Plainfield. He was run over by a co-worker who was moving a van.
This is the second time in three months that there's been a car wash accident in Central Jersey (at least, that I'm aware of). On October 23, 2005 a Squeaky Clean Car Wash (Rt. 28, Middlesex) employee lost control of a Jeep Cherokee he was moving out of the car wash. It lurched across the usually very busy street, through a convenience store parking lot and a three foot concrete barrier, ending up embedded in a neighborhood house 50 yards away. Luckily, no one was hurt. According to the Middlesex police log, "Gabriel Zepeda-Hilario was charged with reckless driving and being an unlicensed driver."
Was yesterday's accident also involving an unlicensed driver? The Courier-News article didn't mentioned that, only that it was still under police investigation. Someone told me that it's not illegal for an unlicensed driver to drive a car on private property but I couldn't verify that. If that's the case, that would mean that car wash owners are not responsible for making sure that their employees have drivers' licenses (not like that verifies good driving skills, but it does help). Until I know, I'm sticking with the "you drive through yourself" carwashes.
|
|
