OCR Text |
Show Trucks present danger Dear Editor: During the past six months, there has been an increasing number of large trucks traveling county roads, where many small children play, residential areas. A lot of this is due to the many gravel pits in the county area, and also the industrial growth. The truckers are not watching for small children, only pushing to see how many loads they can haul each day. Their day beginning around five in the morning and ending after dark at night. The parents, or residents, in these areas are greatly worried about the safety of their children. Areas that were once safe are no longer safe. Parents don't even feel free in some areas to let their children play in their own yards because the trucks have-come have-come on their property in trying to make a turn or pass another vehicle. The residents have become prisoners in their own homes. Getting off the school bus may not put them in danger, but walking from the bus to their homes has become very dangerous. The truck drivers drive too fast for existing conditions. If a child were to dart out into the street, the truck could not be slowed down fast enough, let alone stopped. They have heavy loads behind them. The county roads the trucks drive on were not constructed for the weight capacity of these large trucks. The roads are severely deteriorating. Many of the county roads are getting large ruts and grooves causing hazardous conditions for all other vehicle traffic. My suggestions for solving these problems are as follows: 1. Speed limits should be posted and strictly enforced in rural, especially residential, areas. 2. Laws should be passed designating certain routes for the weight limits involved. i 3. The county roads should, be improved im-proved and upgraded along these routes to handle the stress limit. If current routes can not be upgraded, new routes should be developed over a |