Have you ever moved from one home to another or helped someone else move? Most likely this sounded like a stupid question to start off any post, but the reality is most of us have helped someone more or have moved on our own from one home to another. If you did the moving yourself and drove a truck you’ve rented this truck was probably the largest vehicle you’ve ever driven in your life. With that in mind, here is one question for you; did you pay attention to the overall height of the truck to make sure you knew what your clearance was?
Most of us don’t think about the clearance of overpasses because the highways and interstates that most truck drive on have at least a fourteen foot clearance which allows for nearly every vehicle to pass under without any kind of issue. The problems for large trucks and moving vehicles comes in when they enter residential areas or small towns where the overpasses might be lower and the clearance may be tight. This is why it’s important to make sure you know what your clearance actually is.
There is a bridge in North Carolina that clearly marks the height of 11-feet 8-inches worth of clearance. This is quite a bit shorter than the overpasses you find on the highways and interstates, but when you drive a truck you should know what your vehicle clearance is. Unfortunately this bridge has been a truck killer for quite a while, turning many moving trucks and other vehicles in to tin cans with their tops peeled back. Fortunately, at least for entertainment value, one man was kind enough to document many of these crashes and truck issues that happen at this bridge. Here are some of the videos he captured of this bridge taking its prey.
Rental Truck
In this video we see a rental truck that has its top scraped off by this bridge. From the looks of it this truck must have been listed at 11-feet 9-inches or just a little more because the cross bar take off just the top layer of the truck. I sure hope the driver selected the insurance when he rented this truck.
Don’t Make That Turn
In this video we see a rental truck take a right hand turn and crash right into the bridge cross bar and get stuck. This truck was stuck in a precarious position for a while before crews could save the driver and the truck, at least as much as they could. As you can see the bridge clearance is marked, but not adhered to.
Wheelie Time
When a truck takes on this bridge at a normal travel speed and the driver has no idea that the bridge is too short for the truck to fit under this is what happens. This wheelie of the truck had to give this driver the scare of their life.
Something Left Behind
There are times when a truck will leave a gift at the bridge and in this case the truck left the entire roof draped over the crossbeam of the bridge. The roof was there for a couple hours before the cleanup team ever arrived at the scene.
Check out more videos of trucks crashing into this North Carolina bridge at www.11foot8.com and see how many crashes this man has caught on camera. Guess what; next time you rent a truck to move or help someone move you’ll know the clearance of any overpass you have to deal with.
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