By Staff
All of us know what it's like to take a wrong turn and wind up some place we didn't expect to be. There's no shame in that.
But not all of us are driving log trucks. Or 18-wheelers, or other large, heavy vehicles which, when driven on streets not meant to hold them, can cause damage to the pavement and may even lead to accidents.
The Brewton Police Department says there is a problem with log trucks and other big, heavy vehicles being driven on Belleville Avenue and other streets in the city on which they are prohibited.
It's hard to argue that assertion, as you don't have to watch Belleville, Evergreen or one of the other mostly residential streets in the city for long before seeing a vehicle that looks just a bit out of place there.
This isn't a good fit. We don't mean to come down unnecessarily hard on the people driving these trucks, or the companies for which they work. But the streets between Highway 31 and Highway 41 are narrow, and what goes on alongside them -- people walking, jogging, riding bicycles -- simply doesn't mix well with heavy truck traffic.
The police department is right to recognize this, and warn the trucks away.
That being said, the warning in itself will have little value if there is no follow-up. The department must monitor these streets and issue citations to those driving vehicles that don't belong on them. Only then will these drivers' sense of direction begin to improve.