Garbage trucks are hard to miss. They’re massive, noisy, and they usually carry with them the smell of, well, garbage. However, kids don’t typically worry too much about garbage trucks, and small kids are very easy for garbage trucks to miss. It’s important for anyone to be careful around the garbage truck on their street, but parents of young children who play outside might be especially concerned. Fortunately, you can keep your kids safe around garbage trucks without much difficulty.
Garbage Truck Precautions
The most prominent dangers with garbage trucks and children are, of course, the size of the truck and the many blind spots. Because the truck is so large and the back of the truck is wide enough to hold all this trash, it’s basically impossible for garbage truck drives to see someone behind them or not in direct view of their side mirrors. Fortunately, drivers and garbage truck manufacturers are aware of the potential dangers. That’s why you’ll hear a loud beeping when a garbage truck is about to back up and why they’re driven so slowly.
You also probably know your garbage disposal schedule and can watch out during those times in particular. For instance, if collection day is on Wednesday, and you know the truck usually comes by in the morning, you can tell your kids to play inside or on the lawn close to the house that morning.
Teaching Kids Garbage Truck Safety
You can also protect your kids by teaching them how to be safe when they see a garbage truck. For instance, it’s usually a good idea not to play in the street, but emphasize to them never to play or stand behind a garbage truck, even when it seems to be parked. Never run up to a garbage truck to say hi to the driver, and give it a wide berth, at least 15 feet. Garbage trucks take longer than cars to stop because of their massive size. Finally, make sure your child knows how important it is never to climb on a garbage truck, even when it’s stopped. Not only could this be dangerous if the truck starts to move, but also the hazardous materials in the back of the garbage truck could be harmful to your kids.
Garbage Bin Safety
To a kid, garbage bins can be a handy play resource. It’s big enough to hide in during hide and seek, or it can be a perch or castle wall. However, you should caution kids against playing with garbage cans, and not just on collection day when a garbage truck could pick it up. Hazardous materials and sharp, jagged particles in your garbage bin can be very dangerous for kids, and possibly more dangerous than garbage trucks, because your garbage bins are there every day. Thus it’s a probably a good idea to keep kids from playing in garbage bins at any time.
Waste management companies do all they can to make sure that kids and adults can see and hear their truck coming to avoid accidents. Educating your child should do the rest of the work to make waste management day safe for everyone.
Looking for a new waste management company in Brazos Valley outside of Bryan-College Station? Contact Brazos Valley Trash Valet and Recycling about our weekly trash pick-up and complimentary recycling.
