Truck driver misses warning signs, collapses bridge

Many of the truck drivers that navigate tractor-trailers around the streets of Pottsville are mindful of their surroundings and remain alert as to where they can and cannot conduct their vehicles. This is for good reason, as a simple lapse in judgment could deliver catastrophic results. When most speak of the catastrophic results of a truck accident, they are referring to loss of life. However, given the size of the vehicles, the potential to cause significant damage to property is present, as well.

Residents of an Indiana town are currently having to adjust to life without the historic bridge that spanned a local creek after a Christmas Day accident involving a semi-truck collapsed the bridge completely. Cleanup and reconstruction of the bridge is expected to take months after the woman driving the truck apparently disregarded a sign both prohibiting trucks from crossing and displaying the bridge’s weight limit as six tons. Not only was her vehicle nearly six times heavier than that limit at 35 tons, but it was also too high to clear the overhanging bridge beams. Those beams ripped away the hood of her trailer as she entered the bridge, which ultimately collapsed to one side before the truck could finish crossing. The driver was unhurt, yet is reported to facing a citation for ignoring the sign.

While whether or not the driver or the trucking company that may employ her will face any civil liability was not reported, one may think that in accidents similar to this, which leave entire communities affected by the property damage that they cause, some form of compensation may be available. Having an attorney to assist in determining if that is the case might help bolster the chances of earning it.

Source: WDRB “Truck wedges itself in Paoli bridge, causing it to collapse” Dec. 25, 2015