Deborah Bonzell gave her 3-year-old son Cameron a tight hug Friday after watching a driverless, out-of-control recycling truck careen down a steep hill before crashing into her elderly neighbor's yard.

It's the third such accident on Castle Drive in three years.

"I would have been taking my car out of the driveway, getting ready to take Cameron to preschool, but it was raining so I decided to stay home," Bonzell said.

"I poured myself a cup of coffee, looked out the kitchen window and saw the truck. I could see it as it came, that there was nobody behind the wheel. By the grace of God, it rolled over and came to rest against these two old Cypress trees in my neighbor's yard. ... I feel there was a little divine intervention to keep us out of harm's way."

The accident happened just after 9 a.m., when the driver of a California Waste Solutions recycling truck, fully loaded with paper, plastic and glass, lost his brakes coming down rain-slick Castle Drive, below Skyline Boulevard in the Oakland hills.

The driver bailed out near Castle and Castle Park Way, and the rig continued without him for 200 more yards until it collided with a stone wall, skidded, hit the trees in a neighbor's yard and tipped over, Bonzell said.

The force uprooted one tree, which landed on the driveway, and a large boom reverberated throughout the neighborhood.

"I thought, uh-oh," said Linda Meyer, who lives on Mastlands Drive, further down the hill. Meyer witnessed a similar crash last year when she was outside gathering
her empty recycling bins. That time she heard brakes lock and looked up to see an out-of-control CWS recycling truck flip after hitting the little peninsula at the intersection of Castle and Mastlands.

Amid the smoke and debris, the driver crawled out through the window, unhurt, she said. A driver of a third CWS truck wasn't so lucky a couple of years ago. In that crash, which happened at the same intersection, the driver ended up with a broken leg.

"The thing that concerns me, is this is the third time in three years," Meyer said. "The neighborhood is really serious about finding out what's going on. ... Somebody could be killed."

CWS spokesman Paul Rottenberg said it will take a few days for the company to complete its investigation. He said the trucks are maintained properly and the drivers are fully trained. Light maintenance, including brake checks, are done at the company's Oakland headquarters. Rottenberg said he does not know when the truck in Friday's crash last had its brakes checked.


"If there is something we can do to prevent it from happening again, we'll certainly look into it," he said.


Councilmember Jean Quan said she is concerned about the residents' safety and would request a meeting between the neighbors and CWS. One problem is the long, steep, narrow street has no speed bumps, dots or stop signs.

Becky Dowdakin, Oakland's recycling and solid waste supervisor, said the city does not have oversight of commercial trucks and commercial drivers. But they are subject to state and federal safety laws, which include maintenance inspections and random drug and alcohol testing.

"They are our contractor, and by contract they are required to meet all local, state and federal laws," she said. "Trucking is regulated by federal law and we're confident they are inspected. They are required to do the job and do it safely."

Bonzell said the driver's boss showed up about an hour after the crash and asked him to resume his route in another truck.

"I could tell that he was really shaken up," Bonzell said. "In good conscience, they should be testing him for alcohol and drugs. I said I don't want him driving another truck in this neighborhood. It's so irresponsible that they would want him to keep driving."