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Published on Friday, March 26, 2004
in the Florida Today
Old mattresses, shredded tires, broken ladders and even animal carcasses.
You name it, and it's probably been picked up off the highways by the truckloads.
But to motorists, debris -- including the retreads also known as "highway gators" -- challenges safe driving and can be a life-threatening hazard.
"You see debris all up and down Interstate 95," said Sgt. Channing Taylor, a 10-year veteran of the Florida Highway Patrol. "I've pulled chairs off the road and we've seen sofas. We just stop and get it out of the road."
On Monday of this week, a brake drum lost by a truck may have been kicked up by another vehicle and smashed through the windshield of 64-year-old Brenda Bradburn's Buick.
The Rockledge woman, driving friends and family along State Road 528 to Orlando International Airport, was struck in the head. She was still in critical condition Friday at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne.
"A lot of these are big trucks loaded with up to 80,000 pounds traveling all over . . . sometimes things happen," Taylor said. "Sometimes these drivers don't know it's happened."
Investigators have to find negligence on the part of a driver whose vehicle may have spun off debris before filing charges, he said.
A preliminary report compiled by AAA, formerly the American Automobile Association, shows roadside debris caused 25,000 vehicle accidents a year in the United States as drivers swerved to dodge everything from tire treads, paint buckets to refrigerators.
"It is a problem," said Randy Bly, director of community relations with AAA Autoclub South, headquartered in Tampa.
"The bigger problem is from people who have to swerve because of the retreads from trucks left behind on the road," he said. "These can weigh 40 to 60 pounds because they're full of steel."
Bly is hoping the research will allow for stricter requirements on truck tire recaps -- the practice of retreading old tires.
Road crews contracted by the Florida Department of Transportation search for debris several times a week along major roads, including Brevard's 72-mile stretch of interstate.
"We get a lot, truckloads of stuff," said Treva Gates, an office assistant with VMS, the company responsible for clearing debris off the roads.
That includes everything from busted-up tire treads to stoves to small tools, Gates said.
"Whatever falls off somebody's truck."