NYC Utility Gets Cabs to Guard Hot Spots

NEW YORK – Utility crews have discovered so many stray voltage areas where pedestrians walk that Consolidated Edison has hired hundreds of cab drivers to park and stand guard until repairs are done, a company spokesman said.

At least 1,500 hot spots – manholes, grates or other items that can deliver shocks – were found in the first four months of this year as part of a safety program prompted by the 2004 electrocution of a woman walking her dogs.

The utility has been unable to guard all the areas with its own vehicles and has turned to livery cabs for help, company spokesman Chris Olert told the Daily News for a story Thursday.

The drivers park near marked-off danger spots. Placards on their cars explain that the area contains “an extremely dangerous electrified object or structure,” and the car is there to guard it from pedestrians.

“I just watch and make sure no one goes near it,” said Zafrul Islam, 42, a driver for Brooklyn-based Executive Transportation who has guarded several hot spots around the city.

The company said it could not say how much it was spending on hiring cab drivers or how long they are assigned to stand guard. About 1,000 livery cab drivers have been involved since the effort began six months ago, the company said.

In 2005, Con Edison agreed to spend about $10 million on stray-voltage detectors and other safety programs following the death of Jodie Lane, 30, who was killed when she stepped on the metal cover of a utility box in Manhattan’s East Village on Jan. 16, 2004.

“Cones and cabs, policemen and firemen – whoever they put there that will protect the pedestrian from inadvertently walking on top of it is fine with me,” said Lane’s father, Roger Lane.