An alert police officer in Sparta pulled over a dump truck on Route 15 for having an expired registration last week. The truck also had unsafe tires and did not have a valid diesel inspection sticker. As the officer stood by the truck waiting for a tow truck to arrive he smelled chlorine and diesel fuel. The smell was coming from the load of dirt in the truck. The New Jersey State Police Truck inspection unit was called to the scene and confirmed the officer's suspicions. The truck and it's contents have been impounded. The Sussex County Soil Conservation District is investigating. The truck is owned by Sinai Trucking in Newark. The driver of the truck said the dirt was headed to Westtown, New York. This is not the first time Sinai Trucking has been in trouble. In November of 2016 the company was caught trying to avoid paying more than $75,000 in tolls after one of their trucks drove through an E Z Pass lane at the Goethels Bridge with no license plates. A loaded dump truck registered to Sinai Trucking overturned in May of last year on Route 515 in Vernon. That driver was issued 5 tickets including careless and reckless driving. There are a lot of dump trucks on the road in Sussex County. Even when I drive into work at 4 o'clock in the morning they are all over. Two summers ago a rock that flew off a dump truck on Route 23 smashed my windshield as I was driving. There was nothing I could do except pay for a new windshield. It's good to see our local police in Sussex County being alert and cracking down.
Sources: New Jersey Herald and New York Post