September 26, 2023, 6:36 p.m
PiataAuto.md editors
When bridges have a weight limit posted to cross them, there is usually a very good reason for that restriction. Of course, a certain reserve that a vehicle could generate during certain oscillations on the bridge is usually taken into account, but this reserve cannot be several times higher than the indicated figure. It is incomprehensible, then, what the driver of a truck in the USA, with a concrete mixer full of concrete and a total mass of about 28-32 tons, according to estimates, thought when he decided to cross a bridge with his truck that had a weight restriction of only 4 tons.
More than that, the bridge, located in Montgomery, Texas, was a wooden one, relatively old, so even visually it could not inspire confidence that it could support a truck of over 30 tons.
In addition, there was a large and clear indicator warning drivers of the very low weight limit. So small that nothing even an electric Hummev EV, which weighs 4.4 tons empty, would be allowed to pass over it!
However, the truck driver ventured onto the bridge and when the rear axles reached the middle of the bridge, pressed by the weight of the concrete mixer, the bridge timbers broke and the truck crashed through them, creating a huge hole. Fortunately, the truck driver escaped unharmed.
Surprisingly, the police announced that they will not press charges against the driver, as the bridge is on private land. But the company employing the driver will have to pay the damages to the owner of the bridge. In this context, the truck driver has every chance of being fired or facing financial claims from his company.
The operation to recover the truck lasted for hours, due to its weight and the position in which it collapsed. It took two large cranes to retrieve it. Most likely, the bridge will not be able to be repaired in its original structure.
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2023-09-26 15:40:32
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