Effingham County officials push for bill to teach drivers about transporting hazardous materials on the road

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) – After a deadly tanker truck crash in Teutopolis last year, James Niemann, the Effingham County hazardous material emergency planner, said officials talked about what they could do better if a tragedy like this happened in the future.

He remembered his time as a police officer years ago when he taught first responders about hazardous material awareness.

“[It’s] kind of like the same thing you teach in kindergarten: if it’s not yours, don’t touch it. If you don’t know what it is, stay away from it,” Niemann said.

That’s when they got an idea: teach all drivers about the dangers of hazardous materials too.

“Knowledge is power,” Niemann said. “If they don’t know about it, you can’t avoid it. If we make them a little more aware of it, they can stay out of the state of danger.”

Now, he’s pushing for a bill aimed at doing just that. It would require the Secretary of State to include information on transporting hazardous materials in the Rules of the Road book.

That includes an image and description of hazardous placards – diamond shaped placards used on vehicles carrying hazardous materials. Those include explosives, and flammable and combustible liquid.

“About 5% of the motor carriers, the commercial carriers, are carrying hazardous materials that have to be placarded, but just to be aware of what’s out there and when you see those, it’s just like a railroad crossing, you have to be a little more cautious,” Niemann said.

In October, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released an initial report about the tanker truck crash on Route 40.

They found that a car trying to pass the truck in a no passing zone caused the crash.

At the same time, another vehicle was driving in the opposite direction. The truck driver swerved to the right to avoid crashing into the cars.

Eventually, it hit a utility trailer parked on the side of the road, tearing a hole in the truck leading to half of the anhydrous ammonia leaking out as a toxic gas cloud.

“I think if people realize that even if you don’t hit the vehicle itself, if you maneuver in a way that causes a vehicle with hazardous materials to crash or go off the road, you could cause horrible loss of life and horrible injuries to other people inadvertently,” State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) said.

The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support and is now in the House for further consideration.

The idea about educating people about hazardous materials on the road isn’t new. First responders go through hazardous material awareness training.

The study guide for people looking to get their commercial driver’s license also includes information about the dangers of it and the placards that go on the vehicles transporting it.

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