Federal court case regarding postal carrier "driving from the passenger seat"

[alp227]

The Buffalo News reports:

At first blush, the practice might strike some people as surprising, even outrageous and most certainly illegal.

Well, it's not — at least for letter carriers.

Driving a car while sitting in the passenger's seat might be lawful for mail carriers, but it's raising a few eyebrows at federal court in Buffalo.

Even the judge overseeing the case — a personal injury trial involving a motorcyclist hit by a carrier on Tonawanda Creek Road in Amherst — seemed shocked that the federal government allows such a practice.

"Is this an accepted way of driving a vehicle when you're delivering mail?" U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara asked the carrier during her testimony two months ago.

"That's the way I was taught to do it," she answered.

"The postal authorities taught you how to do it this way?" the judge asked.

"Yes," she answered.

Arcara isn't the only one surprised that the U.S. Postal Service allows letter carriers to drive from the other side of the front seat.

"Intuitively, it seems like it's not the best way to deliver mail," said Stephen R. Foley, a lawyer for Karen M. Moe, the motorcyclist.

Court papers indicate the carrier who hit Moe "would sit in the passenger seat, use the left foot to operate the gas and brake, use the left hand to steer and use the right hand to deliver mail through the right window."

Currently there's a personal injury lawsuit by a motorcyclist against a postal mail carrier who was driving a regular vehicle (not a mail truck) to deliver mail in Buffalo. Also, one carrier in New Hampshire got in an accident driving that way, and another in Texas died.

[Hoopla Phil]

1. This is VERY common in rural areas. For some reason the

post office does not supply right hand drive vehicles to these letter carriers and the are forced to use their personal vehicles to run the routs. I wonder how often this practice leads to accidents.