Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Things you may have always suspected about truckers but didn't necessarily want confirmed



"Along with the usual highway litter, bottles of urine are routinely discarded at the truckers' brake test area at Parleys Summit on Interstate 80.

"'That's not the worst of it,' said Darrell Roberts, a Utah Department of Transportation maintenance supervisor in Parleys Canyon. 'You find zip-type bags with feces in them.'

"UDOT crews don special clothing and gloves and use tongs to remove the containers of human waste.

"The two-lane brake test area is mostly for 18-wheelers, though other vehicles occasionally pull in. There are no facilities or services at the site.

"Greer figures truck drivers are responsible for 90 percent of the trash, particularly the waste-filled containers. He said he has seen the same thing in other states.

"Drivers commonly relieve themselves in plastic bottles and jugs while sitting in the cab, then throw the containers out the window, he said.

"'We certainly don't condone this at all,' said David Creer, executive director of the Utah Trucking Association. 'It's absolutely wrong. But there is another side to the story. These guys get a little bit desperate at times.'"

Apparently, Utah is not alone: