DSW Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/23-year-old-trucker-destroys-historic-bridge-because-sh-1749930189?rev=1451328651253 Trucker Destroys Historic Bridge Because She Didn't Know How Many Pounds Six Tons Was The craziest part isn’t that 23-year-old Mary Lambright drove her 30-ton truck onto this tiny bridge in Paoli, Indiana built in 1880. It’s that she knew that the bridge’s weight limit was six tons. She just didn’t know how many pounds that was. Seriously, that’s what she told the police after the crash on Christmas, as they note in their report: 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, who got her CDL earlier this year, said she wasn’t comfortable backing up her Volvo truck, so she just chanced it on the bridge. That bet didn’t exactly pay out. BangShift reports that Lambright’s company will be the one that will be in a real heap of legal crap for this, though Lambright herself should expect a $135 fine for her citations of “reckless operation of Tractor-Trailer” (a class B misdemeanor), “disregarding a traffic control device” (a class B infraction), and “overweight on posted bridge.” The real mystery here is how she got her CDL. Lambright was uninjured. Based on the date I'm thinking that bridge might be wrought iron. Anyone in the area might want to keep an eye on things if they choose to demo rather than repair that bridge. I'd probably try and gloom as many of those tension bars as I could from the contractor, especially with the cost of scrap steel being in the basement right now. Talking to the Super on the job right away could net someone some really good stock if you get to them early on. Probably well worth paying what they'd get in scrap value for that to get the wrought iron tension bars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 How she got a CDL is the question. Can't convert 6 tons to pounds so she can calculate if that's less than 30 tons? Doesn't like BACKING her rig? I wonder how long she'd keep it between the ditches on an icy mountain downhill, the crest . . . maybe? She's probably a nice gal just not an operator, maybe someday but not now. This kind of story kind of plucks a nerve in me. If someone here manages to get a line on wrought if that bridge is WI it might be good to share some out for a buck. I'll bet Glenn wouldn't mind notices here for a little piece of the action. Hmmmm? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 new math at work ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Don't give her a pilot's licence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Oops! I can see that the weight alone could have caused the distortion...but it would appear that the superstructure/headroom of the bridge is lower than the top of the truck...which must have helped to push those diagonal bracing bars, and then in turn the deck, down. Talking of bridge headroom. As a tourist/visitor, I was tickled by the quaint (or maybe PC) variation on the UK's "Low Bridge" signs in California. (one can't say Low Bridge it might lower the bridge's self esteem) Something like vertically challenged...or vertically impaired headroom/clearance? Whatever it was, I remember thinking by the time you had finished reading it, you would have hit the thing. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I'd feel much safer on the road if her license was rescinded for life for all types of motorized vehicles... Good chance the tension members are wrought and perhaps the box beams as well. Damaged wrought can be a pain to cut with O-A as it can delaminate between the original layers so the top one heats and liquefies and then you hit the O2 and the puddle blows back at you from the under layer that's still intact. (Spent many an hour cutting up the old wrought iron water tank from the old Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus that the demo company mangled. They kept destroying it and then wanting more money and were very surprised to find that ruining the wrought iron did NOT increase the price I was willing to pay. I ended up cutting along the bends to get the largest pieces of untouched plate I could manage---see above about difficulties cutting damaged WI) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natenaaron Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 "Lambright’s company will be the one that will be in a real heap of legal crap for this" Wonder if she was an independent driver or actually employed by the company? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 What does CDL stand for? Commercial Driving Licence? We have HGV as in Heavy Goods Vehicle. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 CDL in her case Can't Drive Lic. It was a Ryder lease truck so most likely she was an employee and also the company probably gave her training and saw she got a license. A lot of big companies do this to get a continued supply of drivers. She must have missed math in 8th grade to not know what a ton is. Gives you a warm feeling when meeting a heavy truck on the road, I use to drive trucks over the road and I hauled liquid and had to know the weight of everything, like water 8.32 lbs per gallon. we were responsible for overweight tickets 100%. We would overload on purpose but only during a snow storm, nobody was going to be out weighing trucks. We never took bridges for granted, most are lucky to hold what they are posted at. A 6 ton limit means the bridge is barely holding itself up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frozenforge Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Yes CDL stands for commercial driving license. Within the CDL there are different classes regulating size of vehicle, type of vehicle, type of cargo. Once again no common sense. Reminds me of how almost every day you see someone cut across multiple lanes of traffic to make a turn or exit. To go around the block or get off at the next exit is too inconvienant for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumbojak Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Reminds me of a guy I grew up with who got pushed into getting a CDL by the company he worked for. Had a bad habit of meeting a fork in the road and attempting to split the difference instead of making a decision regarding which way to go. He drives a semi all over the country now and it sends little shivers down my spine when I meet one on the highway. Let's hope he doesn't run across any antique bridges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave51B Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Hmmm....only 100 miles south Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 10 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: Damaged wrought can be a pain to cut with O-A as it can delaminate between the original layers so the top one heats and liquefies and then you hit the O2 and the puddle blows back at you from the under layer that's still intact. My 1st thought would be to get a decent sized genny and run my plasma cutter. Option #2 would probably be the 14" gas demo saw and abrasive blades. Of course this might be the opportunity to justify that exothermic torch I've always wanted but never had a real need for quite yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Come on, you are blacksmiths! Just disassemble, straighten out, and fire-weld the broken bits, reassemble... Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRS Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Tis nothing but a scratch! It'll buff out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 4 hours ago, Alan Evans said: Come on, you are blacksmiths! Just disassemble, straighten out, and fire-weld the broken bits, reassemble... Alan ......and with a bit of T-cut the truck will be good as new too...! As I read this thread, there is an episode of Ice Road truckers on the TV........I bet they'd love this driver on that show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 YEA we had a Opps here on a bridge a over height crane truck made it halfway across the river before the the truck & the bridge became ONE it took 3 years to replace that bridge & the detour was a PAIN !!! I did get some I beam out of it made welding tables for the schools welding shop they use today Steve's Welding & Fab Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 In the USA in these situations *working* on bridges is usually a big mess of state and federal regs; however the company hired to do the demolition may be quite willing to sell scrap on the shore without having to transport it! Finding out the Demo company is the trick. (I remember when a bridge went out on a local creek in New Jersey; I could generally wade across it and not get my knees wet but it had been listed as a navigable waterway in colonial times and so they had to get coast guard approval on the replacement!) Note too that old bridges often had thick layers of lead based paint on them so take care when forging such items! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Ice Road Truckers <sigh> There's a reason the show wasn't shot but a small part of one season on the Pipeline Haul Road, Dalton Hwy. I was surprised Lynden Transport allowed their trucks to be filmed let alone be part of the program. That Hugh lasted two episodes says money was let for the privilege. The whole "Dash for the Cash" BS. would get a transport company banned most places in Alaska. I'm thinking it was the late / mid 80's and a guy driving an undersized belly dump on a by the ton charge basis blew a stop light. He couldn't afford to maintain his brakes either and rammed a sedan under an asphalt tanker. The lawyer driving the sedan lost his legs to being cooked by 350f asphalt, his son was killed instantly. Bystanders got the Father out before he was killed. It wasn't long after that particularly horrible wreck a law was passed making it illegal to pay operators by how much they delivered, too many people have died trying to squeeze one more ton or load in. Ice Road Truckers, "Dash for the Cash" is not only TV producer BS it's illegal in Alaska. If you're running the Dalton Hwy. and you make a run too fast you get a warning, once or twice more you get to drive somewhere else. It makes me wonder how the show ran Canadian Hwys. as long as it did. Is it still on? Maybe it's about Siberian ice roads now? I haven't watched it inn quite a while, caught a couple episodes with Kelly, the gal from Wasilla driving but only a couple, it was just getting dramatic for drama's sake. A good equipment operator doesn't live a dramatic life at the controls. We say "Clearance" or "Overhead Clearance". That's probably for folk who might think the width of the highway is 16' and not notice a bridge. Happens. And Yeah, I've driven the Dalton a couple times but not as a freighter, we moved our own equipment. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Thanks for the insight into 'Ice Roads', Frosty. I had suspected the drama in that show was not really true to life, and that a lot of it was staged for the cameras. 'Reality TV' is an oxymoron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 2 hours ago, ausfire said: Thanks for the insight into 'Ice Roads', Frosty. I had suspected the drama in that show was not really true to life, and that a lot of it was staged for the cameras. 'Reality TV' is an oxymoron. Yeah, being a professional operator sort of puts that show on my offensive TV list. Do you have a "truck train" reality show down under? I think they call one tractor pulling a bunch of trailers a "truck train" don't they? I've pulled doubles but . . . Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Road train? We overtook one on a dirt road going from Darwin to Kakadu in the Northern Territory...then it started to chase us at 70 mph...shades of Spielberg's first film! Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo7 Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Yep "Road Train" passed one on the bitumen pulling 4 trailers (8 decks) of bullocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 That's it, "Road Trains," get icy roads? Ah I don't know why I ask, guys are hauling doubles year round here in and out of the mountains. Tail gaters, the automotive type, not guys selling tools, really get to me. It doesn't matter what they're driving they don't belong on the roads. The CDL manual says the ONLY correct way to deal with a tail gater is to slow down and let them pass. This only works if the person behind you isn't homicidal, when possible I just get out of their way. If it's a commercial operator threatening you with a truck a little video action should be enough to take THEM off the road for a while anyway. Go Pro or a passenger with a cell phone video and submit it to the authorities. They'll track the lic. number and counsel the driver. Hopefully anyway. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Frosty No disrespect to the road train driver. We overtook him halfway up an incline, he was doing 60 we were maintaining our cruising speed of 65mph...halfway down the other side he had wound his speed back up to 70...so we had to increase ours to stay ahead. I was in the back of the Tourist land cruiser so it was me with the white knuckles and the itchy hairs on my neck, praying for another incline. Actually we booked that 3 day trip into Kakadu with a company called Adventure Tours or similar...I reckoned it was all laid on as part of the Outback Adventure Experience we had paid for. By the time our driver claimed he had a third puncture and hitched a lift to go and get it fixed telling us we would have to walk through the bush carrying our food and water 4 or 5 miles to the billabong (the one with the paradisical waterfall from the first Crocodile Dundee film) I had my suspicions. Especially as this happened the day after he said the Air conditioning in the truck had failed and that had happened the day after the adventure with the road train. One extra thrill a day for the tourists! All in all though, a magical trip seeing the 40,000 year old rock paintings and the wild life along the Yellow River...densley packed as it was the only water for miles in the middle of the dry season...I thoroughly recommend it if you are ever in Darwin with a few days to kill. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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