BOCA RATON, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Times reported recently about the dangerous driving habits of one of the country’s largest armored car carriers: GardaWorld. GardaWorld, or Garda for short, is the third-largest armored car company in the U.S. rivaling only Loomis (formerly Wells Fargo) and Brinks. The company entered the U.S. cash transportation market […]
Dangerous driving habits
BOCA RATON, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Times reported recently about the dangerous driving habits of one of the country’s largest armored car carriers: GardaWorld. GardaWorld, or Garda for short, is the third-largest armored car company in the U.S. rivaling only Loomis (formerly Wells Fargo) and Brinks. The company entered the U.S. cash transportation market in 2005 and quickly engulfed their competition to grow at an alarming rate. However, in growing fast, they have hired drivers who operate recklessly under withering pressure from management to get more stops in, all while driving vans and trucks that are mechanically deficient. The statistics, and the horror stories that give context to the human life lost, are staggering.
Internal data from Garda obtained by the Tampa Bay Times proves that the company’s fleet of trucks and drivers are badly mismanaged. The company’s mismanagement creates an incredibly dangerous situation for people who share the roads with Garda trucks. The internal data shows that from February of 2014 to July of 2016, Garda trucks were involved in about 100 accidents each month. These crashes were not mere fender benders, either. The data indicate that 320 people sustained injuries over that span, which amounts to one injury every three days. Since 2008, nineteen people have died, with three people in 2019, in auto accidents involving a truck or van from the Garda fleet. At least twelve of those deaths are attributable to the mechanical failure of a Garda truck or the negligence of the person behind the wheel of the Garda truck.
The Times conducted what it says is a thorough and fair investigation into the Garda’s operation. Garda threatened to sue the Times if they did not retract the story. Garda also said that it is working on modernizing its fleet of trucks and installing additional safety measures.
Drivers who worked for Garda tell tales of being handed keys to the trucks by supervisors without training, save for one bit of advice, “Don’t kill anybody.” Sadly, they were under more pressure to finish their routes timely and save the company money than return to the base safely.
