Plan B Forum

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 [That name is begging for jokes now] 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.”

http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/23-year-o ... 328651253#

Long Run wrote:Ms. Lambright was aware of the iron bridge stating she had driven on it several times in her personal vehicle...

From another article (http://www.wbiw.com/local/archive/2015/ ... llapse.php):

Poali Police Chief Randy Sanders says 23-year-old Mary Lambright of Fredericksburg (about 20 miles southeast of Paoli) was an inexperienced driver and had just left the Amish order about a year ago.  She and her passenger, her 17-year-old female cousin, were not injured.

Well, there you go.  Amish buggies, even fully loaded, won't top six tons.

And according to Long Run's post, she got her CDL less than a year ago?  I'm moving to Indiana, dammit.  If an Amish woman can graduate from driving a horse and buggy to driving a Volvo tractor-trailer in less than a year — and doesn't have to learn how to "be comfortable" backing up the damned thing — I'm in the wrong career for sure.

-"BB"-

She has an 8th grade education she received while being taught by someone who had an 8th grade education.

I'm pretty sure I learned the number of pounds in a ton before I was in eighth grade.

And how did she get a CDL without learning about load limits and getting "comfortable" with reverse gear?

Since it was an Amish 8th grade it may well have not been included in what she learned. One does wonder about the CDL and I would assume she had to go to some sort of school to learn to drive a semi, and at some point she would have had to pass a written driving test.

TPFKA@W wrote:She has an 8th grade education she received while being taught by someone who had an 8th grade education.

We learned the metric system in 6th grade.

Lemme see: how many farlings to a cubit?

dales wrote:

TPFKA@W wrote:She has an 8th grade education she received while being taught by someone who had an 8th grade education.

We learned the metric system in 6th grade.

Lemme see: how many farlings to a cubit?

God forgive me, but all I can think of when someone mentions 'cubit' is the old Bill Cosby routine:

"Noah!"
"Who is that?"
"It's the Lord ... Noah!"
"Right!  Where are ya?  Whaddaya want — I've been good..!"
"I want you to build an Ark."
"Right ... What's an Ark?"
"Get some wood; build it 300 cubits by 80 cubits by 40 cubits."
"Riiight ... Whats a cubit?"
"Let's see; a cubit ... I used to know what a cubit was... uh... Well don't worry about that, Noah...
     When you get that done, go out into the world and collect all of the animals in the world by twos —
     male and female — and put them into the Ark."
"Riiight .... Who is this really?"

-"BB"-

Didnt know how high it was either.

Some part of "no semis" that evaded her understanding?

I guess her passenger couldn't read or do math either.

There are stupid people and there are ignorant people. Unfortunately there are a few who are both.

It's back to the farm for them. Rumspringa is over.

I've known two guys who went into trucking when they were past 50. Look around a truck stop. Many if not most of the drivers have grey hair. It's painfully easy to pass the written CDL test with a little coaching. Then it's off to the highways with an Instruction Permit and another instructor/driver who may or may not have much experience. One of my acquaintances drove for Swift for a year and left for a much better job with Martin. Two years later he bought his own tractor and became an owner operator. It's common for drivers to be on the road with very little experience. A year with Swift will get a driver enough experience to qualify for a better company's insurance. A LOT of their drivers leave after their first year. Knowing that, I give Swift's trucks a very wide berth. My other acquaintance trained with CR England. He lasted about six weeks. They said he owed them $3000 for his training, but never came after him for it.

Poali Police Chief Randy Sanders says 23-year-old Mary Lambright of Fredericksburg (about 20 miles southeast of Paoli) was an inexperienced driver and had just left the Amish order about a year ago.

Kinda ironic somebody who was raised in a religion fiercely dedicated to preserving an historical way of life, should be responsible for destroying a 135 year-old piece of history....

I think natural stupity is to blame. the amish are builders and skilled craftsmen. they know math.

the truck was too tall and too heavy for the bridge. a bright 5 yr old could see that.

blaming it on her being amish is just silly, you may as well say..., "it s because she is a woman driver, and you know how they are, almost as bad as Asian drivers...."

whoever gave her the CDL should be fired.

fixing that bridge would be a project that a man could sink his teeth into tho....

that would be fun!!!!

for an iron worker, amish family, or hillbillies, it s all in a days work....

I don't know about Indiana, but in Western Pennsylvania the Amish (and similar communities) send their future teachers to college, and most of them have degrees. My wife graduated with a couple of them (California University of Pennsylvania).

A metric "tonne" and a short "ton" are close enough that this driver should have been aware of the problem without any reference to pounds. Any commercial driver MUST know how much vertical clearance she needs, as well as the approximate weight of her rig, in tons.

Given that no one was apparently injured in this incident, it is funny as hell.

she wasn’t comfortable backing up her Volvo truck

You probably also shouldn't be driving something that you don't know how to drive in reverse....

It's a Law of Physics problem: No two objects can occupy the same place at the same time.

Next conundrum, please.

Swift, JB Hunt, CRST, May, etc etc. Trucks to avoid. Even other truckers (including ones that drive for those companies!) say to get out of their way. Inexperienced drivers. One of the CRST ("Can't Really Steer Trucks") drivers heavily damaged one of the race boats on the series I participate in at a fuel station by not making a wide enough arc, and hit the boat (destroying the wing fairings, shoving the boat several feet forward on the trailer until the rudder hit the bunk, and damaging the rear hydroshoe) with the side of the trailer, only stopping when the rear tires of the trailer hit the back of the boat trailer). Oh, and the boat was sponsored by a rival trucking company.

The only ones that are worse are port haulers. The guys picking up and dropping off containers. These are usually guys fired from big companies, and own worn out, often unsafe trucks that see little maintenance. These are the ones you see tipped over around here more often than anything else.

I've known several truckers and most have the same compaint- their employers almost universally require them to break trucking laws. Sometimes it's false books, but mostly its undeclared hazardous chemicals. My neighbor quit his job with Allied (which is a long-haul MOVIING company) when they wanted him to haul undeclared, unplacarded flammable liquids on return trips.


Of course, the flip side is you can't become an experienced driver without first being an inexperienced driver, and the only way to get experience is to actually DRIVE. A solution (of sorts) would be to require drivers to have "provisional" CDLs after passing the exams, and then have 500 hours driving with a non-provisional driver before being allowed to solo. Of course the shipping industry and the Teamsters would never go for that. I know I had maybe 30 minutes training before the Navy turned me loose with a 5-ton truck and 27 (later 33) foot boats on trailers.

Lord Jim wrote: a 135 year-old piece of history....

That's not history, that's yesterday...

Knowing Australia's England's long history, I'm inclined to agree.

What blew this little boy's mind was that there were churches 1000 years old in the UK.

Church in our village was founded in 520 AD.