Bump case cemented
Finally, we have an explanation for those mysterious cement spills on the road that harden into small boulders.
On July 15, we wrote about piles of spilled cement near the curb on Eastern Ave. — a problem we’ve previously reported on — and a cyclist’s threat to remove them with a hammer and chisel because the city hadn’t.
We’ve never understood how cement spills out of the big spinning cylinder on the truck, so we asked any reader that knew to tell us about it. We eventually got a note from a cement truck driver who offered a qualified mea culpa; he noted that drivers have no control over how much liquefied cement is loaded into the cylinder on their truck.
“If a concrete mixer ‘burps,’ it means the truck is overloaded or, for the amount that is in the mixer, the load is too liquid,” said the driver, who asked to remain anonymous.
“If a truck is rated for eight metres cubed, it should only be loaded with six. Many companies, especially the smaller ones, will put eight metres cubed onto a truck with an eight-metre drum.
“If that load is not fairly dry, it will spill on hills,” or when the truck hits a bump or pothole, he said. “The company always holds the driver responsible and so does the law; but the driver cannot do much without butting horns with management or owners.”
It sounds entirely plausible, but we had to go back to the driver to ask from where the cement escapes the cylinder.
“The only place the concrete has to go is out the top of the drum at the back of the mixer. It then runs down the chute.
“Some drivers keep the chute pointed straight back, in which case they have no knowledge they are spilling. Some drivers swivel the chute to the side, in which case the concrete spills to one side or the other and the driver will catch it happening from his or her mirror.
“If the MTO would put more responsibility on owners and loaders . . . then the problem of concrete spills would be reduced, if not eliminated.”
It all adds up, along with his theory for why cement producers get away with it. As usual, a lack of enforcement.
Over to you, transportation ministry. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Email jlakey@thestar.ca. Follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.