Garbage stinks. Garbage cans stink. Garbage trucks stink. Garbage transfer stations stink. Garbage landfills stink. From the onset of humans creating waste to its final disposal underground for millennia to come, garbage stinks. You know what else stinks? The complexity of truck laws surrounding garbage weights. The article this week will tell the recent tale of an exemplary truck officer who made a mistake with garbage laws and how he cleaned up the mess. Garbage is a politi

Relax.  This is not an article about unscrupulous people wearing trench coats.  This is an article about flashing lights.  Many vehicles lawfully have flashing light. In Illinois, police and fire services exclusively use flashing blue and red lights.  But what about amber flashing lights?  When can trucks use those on the road and be free from enforcement?  Or are they forbidden?  In recent weeks, the ITEA has received several phone calls and emails about this topic, so off w

Trucking is a complex business.  There are all kinds of vehicle types and configurations depending on the work needing to get done.  Over the years, the Illinois General Assembly has saw fit to modify the Illinois Vehicle Code by giving different styles of trucks exceptions to legal weight limits.  Garbage is one of these, and for good reason.  Removal of garbage is necessary for public health and sanitation.  Vehicles qualifying as garbage trucks get some extra gross and axl