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LONG HAULS: Concerns continue over trucks hauling Toronto garbage through Southwestern Ontario and transports carrying human waste to farmers
Trash trucker wants some respect

Jenni Dunning Sun Media

June 5, 2008

Some days, James Hass says, he doesn't know if he'll make it home alive from work.

I don't understand why the general public paints truck drivers like monsters. James Hass

But it's just part of his daily grind. He's a garbage truck driver.

The Londoner has been hauling garbage to the Green Lane landfill from the Toronto area for the last year. And there isn't much he hasn't seen.

"You get cars that try to cut you off or people throw stuff at you," he said. Stuff like garbage and pop cans.

"I don't understand why the general public paints truck drivers like monsters," said Hass, who's been driving trucks for 18 years. "I think there's a lot of ignorance.

"If I hit you, I'd drive right over you and be lucky if I felt it. It's one thing when your (truck is) empty, but it's another when you're full. People still pull in front of you."

Hass's comments came less than two weeks after a Brampton truck driver was killed when two trash trucks from Toronto collided on Highway 401 in London, shutting down part of the superhighway for hours.

Area politicians, including Sarnia's Mike Bradley, have called for provincial action to stop the "cavalcade' of trucks on major highways, suggesting cities such as Toronto should be forced to deal with their garbage woes within their own boundaries.

As many as 400 trucks, each loaded with up to of 35 tonnes of garbage, pass through Southwestern Ontario daily from the Greater Toronto Area, hauling waste to Michigan landfills.

Over the last six years, crashes involving trash haulers have been reported almost weekly.

Ignorance by some motorists is partly to blame for accidents involving trash trucks, Hass said, and the public needs to know "exactly what the rules of the road are" for trucks.

If people knew more about truck drivers' rules, there might be fewer accidents, he said.

For example, on a three-lane highway, garbage trucks aren't allowed in the left lane and can only pass in the middle one. Going in the left lane can result in a $400 fine.

Hass said he has written to the OPP, asking them to educate people more about trucks.

"I'm not defending every single (truck) driver. There's a horrific amount out there that shouldn't be driving," he said.

Hass said many truck drivers aren't trained enough or they carry two log books so they can drive longer than they're supposed to.

"The rules we have to follow . . . the repercussions and liability are huge," Hass said.

"Trucks aren't bad. There are bad drivers everywhere."

Jenni Dunning is a Free Press reporter.

E-MAIL: Jenni Dunning

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