What happens when you drive a 30 tonne truck over a 6-tonne weight limit bridge? As expected, the results aren’t too pretty both for the bridge as well as the truck.
Even for the weakest people in common sense, just the sight of driving the 30 tonne truck over the weak and fragile looking bridge should have been enough deterrence. But apparently, it wasn’t enough for the 23-year-old driver, Mary Lambright, nor was the sign stating a 6-tonne weight limit, as she totally wrecked the ancient 1880 Indiana bridge with her misadventure.
When asked by the police why she ignored the weight limit sign, she simply said that she didn’t know how many pounds 6 tonnes consisted of.
Below is a transcript of a report submitted by the police:
“Ms. Lambright was aware of the iron bridge stating she had driven on it several times in her personal vehicle and was also aware of the posted signage “no semis, weight limit of 6 tons”. When asked by Paoli Police why she continued through the bridge knowing the weight limit was only 6 tons she admitted to not knowing how many pounds that was. She was advised the weight of the vehicle at the time of the crash was close to 30 tons.”
Lambright got her carrier driving licence just this year, and wasn’t comfortable in backing out the truck, so instead she just drove over it.
According to reports, the carriage company will now be facing a huge legal and financial jostling. And Lambright will probably will have to say goodbye to her licence and her job along with facing a $135 fine for her “reckless operation of Tractor-Trailer” which is a class B misdemeanor, “disregard of a traffic control device”, which is a class B infraction, and a third citation of “overweight on posted bridge”.