Wisconsin Passes Bill Increasing Sanitation Worker Safety
The bill will increase fines for motorists illegally bypassing garbage trucks.
Lawmakers in Wisconsin have approved a bill that should protect sanitation workers from the dangers created by other drivers going around garbage trucks.
Fines for reckless driving that could endanger sanitation workers will double under the new bill passed by the state senate. The bill was approved by a 32-1 vote. According to the National Solid Wastes Management Association, eight sanitation workers are killed by reckless drivers each year.
Unlike laws existing in every state requiring drivers to slow down for police and emergency vehicles that are parked, Michigan is the only state that extends this requirement to garbage trucks.