Dear Editor,
I’m making a case here again with regard to logs transported on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. With the current road carnage carnival that has transformed our roads into killing fields, it behooves us to take serious stock. There is nothing that makes you cringe like watching those loaded lumber trucks – lowbeds ‒ driving through Linden and along the highway. Watch carefully those 50-60 feet logs, some over three feet in diameter packed high and protruding well over 8-10 feet, held in place by chain, and tell me if that doesn’t scare you. This is a critical matter that must be attended to very quickly before another horrendous accident takes place.
Looking at those loaded trailers and trucks triggers a sense of foreboding, so much so that you come to dread your own thoughts. I know there might be some who will dismiss me as a pessimist, but I tell you, it will be at our peril, and therefore I beg we take heed.
How often are these chains holding these logs checked? What of the fitness of these relentless working vehicles? Reflectors are often broken or missing completely. All of them pose real danger when broken down, especially at night when they are left on the road. Shouldn’t these vehicles always have lamps, ribbons, cones, etc, as well as high reflectors that must be placed around them so that they can be spotted miles away at nights.
When will the river be put into use for the transporting of these massive logs, and in so doing contribute to the safety of all?
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
