EXTRA, EXTRA/Commercials target trash truck safety
Every year in the United States, automobiles strike 80,000 pedestrians, and of those, 6,000 are killed. Most of the accidents are not at intersections, but on city streets and highways where vehicle speeds are higher and drivers do not expect to stop. On city streets, motorists passing a refuse truck can unnecessarily endanger workers, and Cincinnati, Ohio-based Rumpke Waste should know. Over a period of two months in 2003 and 2004, the waste management company lost two employees — one who died from injuries and one who sustained multiple injuries and extensive brain damage while working — because of motorists’ inattentiveness. To make the public more aware, Rumpke developed and Dodge Center, Minn.-based McNeilus produced a 30-second television commercial and a 30-second radio commercial that they are giving away free. The commercials highlight safety issues that inattentive driving creates for refuse workers and other public service employees, such as utility workers and street maintenance personnel. The commercials are available on each of the companies’ Web sites: www.rumpke.com and www.mcneiluscompanies.com.
