B737-800 flight crew reported having to stop abruptly when a catering truck suddenly turned in front...

Narrative:

Pushed back to top of the alley. Ground control cleared us to taxi to 24L via C; south; north route. As we rounded the corner we were instructed to follow an aircraft out of the alley. The captain slowed the aircraft until the aircraft rounded the corner in front of us. The captain resumed a taxi speed of approximately 10 knots. The east-west vehicle service road between us and terminals had a routine amount of traffic. Very suddenly; a westbound catering truck at our 1:30 position made a hard 90 degree left turn off of the service road; on to our taxiway and into the path of our aircraft. I would estimate the vehicle was only 30 feet in front of the aircraft when it began the maneuver. The captain smoothly yet firmly stopped the aircraft and the driver also eventually saw us and stopped. I estimate the catering truck was 10 feet west of the nose 'plane' of the aircraft and well inside of our wingtip when our airplane was stopped.we reported the ground vehicle number to ground control. The captain made a PA to the passengers explaining the stop and we ensured there were no injuries to crew members or lap children through the service interphone before resuming aircraft movement.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 flight crew reported having to stop abruptly when a catering truck suddenly turned in front of their aircraft. Later in the flight; a Flight Attendant advised the Captain of a sore back.

Narrative: Pushed back to top of the alley. Ground control cleared us to taxi to 24L via C; S; north route. As we rounded the corner we were instructed to follow an aircraft out of the alley. The captain slowed the aircraft until the aircraft rounded the corner in front of us. The captain resumed a taxi speed of approximately 10 knots. The east-west vehicle service road between us and terminals had a routine amount of traffic. Very suddenly; a westbound catering truck at our 1:30 position made a hard 90 degree left turn off of the service road; on to our taxiway and into the path of our aircraft. I would estimate the vehicle was only 30 feet in front of the aircraft when it began the maneuver. The Captain smoothly yet firmly stopped the aircraft and the driver also eventually saw us and stopped. I estimate the catering truck was 10 feet west of the nose 'plane' of the aircraft and well inside of our wingtip when our airplane was stopped.We reported the ground vehicle number to ground control. The captain made a PA to the passengers explaining the stop and we ensured there were no injuries to crew members or lap children through the service interphone before resuming aircraft movement.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1373696
Time
Date	201607
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	LAX.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Critical Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness

B737-800 flight crew reported having to stop abruptly when a catering truck suddenly turned in front of their aircraft. Later in the flight; a flight attendant advised the captain of a sore back.