TEUTOPOLIS, Ill. (WAND) — Legislation is being created in response to the tragic loss of life in Teutopolis one year ago.
On September 29, 2023, people had to rush out immediately after anhydrous ammonia leaked from a tanker truck after it crashed outside the city. The leak caused the death of five people -- including two children -- and severe injury to nearly a dozen others.
In October 2023, WAND reported that State Senator Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) and State Representative Adam Niemerg (R-Teutopolis) proposed a bill that would require companies providing GPS services to offer detour and routing services provided by emergency services.
The bill would require that at least one person is available at all times to receive official requests from emergency services, Illinois State Police, or the Department of Transportation.
Additionally, IDOT would have to reimburse local governments for damage to local roads caused by detours necessitated by state construction projects under the bill.Â
"We're trying to look forward to make the streets safer, you know, going forward and and also to try to help our local taxpayers reclaim the costs when their roads are destroyed." said Senator Rose.
In early August, WAND reported that Governor JB Pritzker signed a bill into law to educate more drivers about vehicles transporting hazardous materials.Â
The law requires the Illinois Secretary of State to include education on hazardous material placards in the Illinois Rules of the Road book students read during driver education courses.Â
Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) said that it was a commonsense choice. Â
"The hope here is that younger drivers, in particular, when they learn about this in driver's ed, are going to think twice before they drive dangerously around these vehicles and hopefully around all vehicles, because these are the types of vehicles that very minor fender-benders can be very deadly,"said Sen. McClure.
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