{"id":368171,"date":"2026-10-08T20:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T20:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/368171\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T20:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T20:16:07","slug":"nyc-truck-fleets-new-turning-alerts-have-a-proper-british-accent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/368171\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC truck fleet\u2019s new turning alerts have a proper British accent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a city known the world over for its accent \u2014 a rapid-fire patter of dropped \u201cR\u201ds, cups of \u201ccawfee\u201d and \u201cfuhgeddaboudits\u201d \u2014 New York City\u2019s municipal fleet sounds a bit like a tourist.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2026\/07\/23\/mamdani-non-emergency-city-vehicles-pedestrian-protections\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A newly installed audible alert<\/a> on the city\u2019s non-emergency trucks and vans now tells nearby pedestrians \u2014 in a British accent \u2014 when the vehicle is preparing to turn.<\/p>\n<p>A Daily News reporter recently heard a blue-and-white Department of Homeless Services van proclaim, \u201cCaution, vehicle turning right,\u201d in a posh accent as it cruised through Crown Heights.<\/p>\n<p>The reason for that is simple, said Keith Kerman, deputy commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, who heads the city\u2019s municipal fleet: The system came that way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVisionTrack is our current vendor, and VisionTrack is a British-based company,\u201d Kerman told The News. \u201cThey did the voice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The firm came to the city\u2019s attention through an international conference in London.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is literally the voice of someone that works with VisionTrack that was the voice that we launched with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>New York is a city where even some crosswalks have an accent straight from central casting.<\/p>\n<p>When the Department of Transportation installed accessible crosswalks in the 2010s, its announcements were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/07\/07\/nyregion\/a-new-york-voice-at-new-york-intersections.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GVE.KTGa.aiAmuhuVJScG&amp;smid=url-share\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recorded by DOT electrician Dennis Ferrara<\/a> \u2014 whose Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, accent had a distinctly local flavor.<\/p>\n<p>Kerman said the voice of New York\u2019s turning trucks was chosen in part because it would be noticed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe weren\u2019t necessarily thinking bout the accent, per se, but we thought it was a very strong, noticeable voice that would cut through in the street,\u201d he said. \u201cUltimately our point is to be noticed \u2014 our point is that when you cross and a truck is coming, you are alerted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf this voice, in its distinctiveness and its British-ness and its politeness, helps achieve that, great,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Kerman didn\u2019t rule out the possibility that the voice could be changed to something more regionally familiar later on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho says we don\u2019t have a contest to have a \u2018Voice of Safety\u2019 at some point?\u201d he said. \u201cFrankly, one question we have is, do we change it just so that people don\u2019t get used to it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So far, the audible turn-alert system has been installed on roughly 1,100 trucks and vans out of the city\u2019s 4,000-strong non-emergency fleet. Kerman said another 500 units are on order, and should be installed by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n<p>DCAS is also in the early stages of testing the system on emergency vehicles, like fire trucks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo far, reception from our own agencies and drivers and \u2014 to the extent we\u2019ve heard \u2014 from the safety community and the general public has been very positive,\u201d Kerman said. \u201cMost people who\u2019ve encountered them have been happy to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a city known the world over for its accent \u2014 a rapid-fire patter of dropped \u201cR\u201ds, cups&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[136044,136045,41078,5459,9,56,63,65,136043,64,136042,136046],"class_list":["post-368171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-audible-turning-alert","tag-british-accent","tag-department-of-citywide-administrative-services","tag-department-of-transportation","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-municipal-trucks","tag-nyc-news","tag-turning-alerts","tag-visiontrack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}