- Jan 7, 2002
- 12,755
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Along Interstate 70, Ohio Department of Transportation workers carefully pick up roadside ?bombs.?
With gloved hands or claws, the crews collect containers filled with urine ? called ?trucker bombs? because they explode under highway workers? lawn mowers ? and put them in trash bags.
?Let?s say the drivers recycle,? Clark County ODOT Transportation Administrator John Balzer said. ?They?ll drink their pop, then give us something back.?
In an attempt to curb the bombs, state Sen. Kimberly Zurz, D-Green, introduced a bill Thursday to increase fines against drivers dumping dangerous litter.
In mucky rainwater on I-70 near Possum Road, Tyrome Taylor, a 20-year ODOT employee, used a litter stick Friday to reach a 20-ounce soda bottle filled with a yellow liquid.
?It?s a never-ending battle,? he said a bit down the road, dropping a urine-filled sandwich bag into a trash bucket.
Though an ODOT goal is to keep highways clean, it creates problems for workers? safety, Balzer said.
Crews are told to try to pick up the containers without spilling them, but accidents happen, Balzer said.
Taylor said that before all county mowers were equipped with cabs to protect drivers, he experienced a trucker bomb explosion first hand.
?We?re handling substances that hospitals consider hazardous,? Balzer said.
Highway ramps are hot spots for urine-filled bottle disposal because truckers stop to sleep overnight and empty their waste along the roadside before leaving in the morning.
A study by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reported about 1 million containers of urine are found along Ohio roadways each year, which led Zurz to push for more than the current $150 fine, Zurz?s spokesman Doug Nagy said.
The bill proposes first-time dumpers could face a maximum $1,000 fine, keeping the minimum at $150. Repeat offenders would face increasing fines and possible license suspension.
?No one should have to go though this just because people are too concerned with missing a profit to go to the bathroom,? Nagy said.
http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/...es/2006/04/01/sns0401truckerbombs.html
With gloved hands or claws, the crews collect containers filled with urine ? called ?trucker bombs? because they explode under highway workers? lawn mowers ? and put them in trash bags.
?Let?s say the drivers recycle,? Clark County ODOT Transportation Administrator John Balzer said. ?They?ll drink their pop, then give us something back.?
In an attempt to curb the bombs, state Sen. Kimberly Zurz, D-Green, introduced a bill Thursday to increase fines against drivers dumping dangerous litter.
In mucky rainwater on I-70 near Possum Road, Tyrome Taylor, a 20-year ODOT employee, used a litter stick Friday to reach a 20-ounce soda bottle filled with a yellow liquid.
?It?s a never-ending battle,? he said a bit down the road, dropping a urine-filled sandwich bag into a trash bucket.
Though an ODOT goal is to keep highways clean, it creates problems for workers? safety, Balzer said.
Crews are told to try to pick up the containers without spilling them, but accidents happen, Balzer said.
Taylor said that before all county mowers were equipped with cabs to protect drivers, he experienced a trucker bomb explosion first hand.
?We?re handling substances that hospitals consider hazardous,? Balzer said.
Highway ramps are hot spots for urine-filled bottle disposal because truckers stop to sleep overnight and empty their waste along the roadside before leaving in the morning.
A study by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reported about 1 million containers of urine are found along Ohio roadways each year, which led Zurz to push for more than the current $150 fine, Zurz?s spokesman Doug Nagy said.
The bill proposes first-time dumpers could face a maximum $1,000 fine, keeping the minimum at $150. Repeat offenders would face increasing fines and possible license suspension.
?No one should have to go though this just because people are too concerned with missing a profit to go to the bathroom,? Nagy said.
http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/...es/2006/04/01/sns0401truckerbombs.html
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