rangerjim93
01-22-2004, 05:31 PM
Every morning, here in Perry,NY, when I go to run my personal errands, I cannot help but notice the number of big rig trucks that go hot rodding through town to beat both the traffic lights on Main Street, some of them being tankers hauling various dangerous cargoes.Suppose one of these trucks were to rearend a loaded school bus either in Perry, or any other municipality whose Main Street has one or more traffic lights. The carnage the fire department and ambulance corps would have to deal with would be bad enough with either a milk hauler, dry van, or dump trailer rig, but would be exacerbated if the truck involved is a tanker hauling dangerous cargo, particularly flammable liquids. Nearby Mount Morris,NY has upwards of 700 to 900 trucks a day going up and down Route 36 each day. I have no doubt that a good number of them hot rod to try to beat both lights in that town. I believe this is something every fire department, particularly in smaller villages like Perry,Mount Morris, and other towns with one or more stoplights should be concerned with, especially since it is the fire department that has to clean up the carnage. Since the village police cannot be everywhere at once, they need back up from the State Police and Sheriff's Office, but that is another matter. Unless these truckers are slowed down, it is going to be a matter of time before they kill a fair number of people in an accident and/or hazmat explosion. The way I see it, they should either slow down through Perry,Mount Morris, and other villages, or be diverted away from these villages unless they have deliveries or pickups to make in these towns. Warsaw has barred trucks from the East hill on Route 20A for over 30 years, maybe thought should be given to putting some of this freight on piggyback rail flatcars instead of hauling it over the road. Nearby Route 63 is practically Death Alley with the heavy truck traffic. Rebuilding an abandoned railroad right of way,rather than an expressway would be one way to go to take some of this freight off this already congested road which passes through school districts in Pavilion,and York, and sees much school bus traffic as well. This hotrodding by big rig drivers has got to stop. As I said before, it is only a matter of time before they rear end a loaded school bus and kill a bunch of kids. Enough is enough.