A young trucker has been sentenced to jail time for damaging an historic Indiana bridge after not knowing how much 6 tons was and driving over it despite being far over the weight limit of the bridge.
The 23-year-old trucker was hauling 43,000 pounds of bottled water when she missed a turn to get from U.S. 150 East to SR-37 North in Indiana. She was a local though, and knew another way to get to the Walmart where she was delivering her load. The only problem was that the route she needed to take was over an old steel bridge with a 6-ton weight limit.
After the incident, she admitted that she wasn’t sure how much 6 tons was. While she considered turning around, she wasn’t comfortable backing up her truck, so she decided to try and drive over the bridge.
By the time the bridge collapsed under the weight of the truck, about a third of the top of the trailer had been ripped off. According to police, for the truck to have gotten that far before coming to a stop, it would need to have been traveling at more than 30 miles per hour.
During her sentencing hearing, the driver apologized for her “terrible mistake.” Her lawyer argued that she had damaged the bridge because she was a new driver and until very recently had been a member of the Amish community.
She was charged with disregarding a traffic control device, traveling with an overweight load on a posted bridge and operating a vehicle in violation of a restriction. The judge handed down the maximum sentence of 180 days in jail and ordered her to pay $2,454.84 in restitution to the county in order to cover the cost of the inspection once the bridge is repaired. Repairing the bridge will cost an estimated $750,000 and was covered by insurance.
The young driver was fired from her job and had her license suspended. She will likely end up serving around 90 additional days in prison due to time served.
Source: tmnews, wbiw, indianapublicmedia, wave3, truckersreport
Image Source: Orange County Sheriff photo
Mike says
The idiot deserves it.
Bill.comp says
Yet another reason for requiring new drivers to perform under the scrutiny of a lead driver with several million miles behind them. No driver is competent to be released with a CMV, with only months of experience
William Scott Womack says
A good discerning trainer would have realized in a couple of days whether or not the driver has the ability to comprehend and learn and continue learning every day of their driving career. I went to National Training in 1987 and as of July I will have 30 years of driving in. My trainer got out of the truck after my first trip with him and told me you’ve got this. Because he saw that I had a conscious awareness of our changing environment. I drive every mile like it’s my first mile. Remembering that you are only as good as the last mile you drove.
katherine nesmith says
Common Sense would have told one person to actually look at that bridge and say hell no! Also look at your surroundings you are in, a rural area with skinny little roads and it doesn’t have yellow stripes running down the road. One more thing what is the height of that rickety Shea Bridge? that Semi’s don’t belong on. Wow, so much to see!
Michael says
Her employer should be going to jail with her instead of just being able to fire her and absolve themselves of responsibility. The company that put her behind the wheel of that truck is just as guilty as she is.
Hugo Miller says
That’s a fair point. Employing a 23 year-old girl who has no knowledge of weights and who isn’t capable of backing up a truck? Crazy.
Snow Walker says
The driving school she attended must be a real whiz bang of a training school. Her training should be investigated.
William Scott Womack says
Amen!
Michael Gallegos says
10-4 !!
Lester Munyon says
Get a new jobbridge need a new bridge built there anyway tear down build one like the trucks can go over for crying out loud. And if she was told to go that way,that’s no jail time
duhfault says
Backing a truck on a public roadway is the error of a fool.
A 4-wheeler can and will sneak up to 3′ from (the tiniest fractions of seconds make minutes!) and hide behind the trailer in the time it takes to climb in the cab and release the brakes after running from the rear of the trailer and ensuring nobody is there or even in sight.
mousekiller says
It did not say she was incapable of backing . It said she was not comfortable backing. I’ve been there many times in 50 years of pushing a CMV around. Like. do not back thru a fuel island.I won’t. She made a costly mistake and is going to pay for her lack of experience unfortunately.Limited education may have played a part in this too. A trainer cannot possibly teach a newbie for every potential problem one might come upon in the life of trucking.
Marvin says
No a trainer can’t, but the trainer can instruct the twit on how to figure out how much weight she is carrying. She sould have known, at the very least the school she went to or the instructor should have made sure she understood weight, sand weight distribution. Piss poor instructor and instruction.
Kevin says
I agree!
Stewart Fisher says
Your are very correct!
Lester Munyon says
Ya who no’s nothing, the blind leading the blind into the ditch or in this case over the bridge
Dave says
Why stop with the employer…
How about the individual who passed her for her CDL, the person at the agency who printed her CDL declaring her a qualified driver, the elected officials who created the laws that govern licensing and maybe her math teacher from the colony. They drive and walk among us.
Bill.comp says
Do you ever have a problem carrying that chip on your shoulder ?
Erric says
I hope she didn’t have a family or kids to support to support amish or not Why else would she be on the road to earning a living maybe this is her first adventure leaving the Amish community.
Dan says
The 750,000 covered by insurance mentioned is the trucking companies insurance.
This whole story is a monument to the shoddy training practices of today’s large carriers.
Bill.comp says
Wrong, that would be the Pl&PD policy on the truck, paid by the owner of the vehicle. You people Do Not have a clue, obviously! The Company as you refer to, is completely harmless in this example of outrageous mismanagement. Big business and Trucking Companies, like Sears, JC Penny’s and Ace Hardware, just a few of Organizations over the years who have lobbied money to buy our congressional members, to change the laws, to insulate the trucking Company, from any form of liability created by their own misconduct. This includes any action, pertaining to the safety or welfare of their employee’s rights or wellbeing. Every one involved in the sham business of Driver Training, beginning with the law makers who authorized it. Should have to spend 30 days in the cab of a CMV, driven by Nubee, fresh out of one of our ACCREDITED driving schools. I can attest there will be some drastic changes overnight!!!
Eastwood 302 says
People make mistakes but no matter the age, man, or woman when driving these trucks you have to use common sense that’s 90 percent of this job. When in doubt call the police and have them save you before you destroy something.
Bill.comp says
Obviously, you have never driven professionally.
Eastwood 302 says
Wrong
Jude Ossowski says
Agreed. I’ve called for police help a few times, usually on the lovely east coast, when I got caught because I missed a sign or there wasn’t one. I never received anything worse than a silly laugh from any of the law enforcers who showed up. In fact, most gave me an escort to where I was supposed to be.
zolly says
i’ve actually called police to come watch me back out of a residential neighborhood in new york city
Felix says
Sorry but common sense just not that common any more
Alex says
I was raised with common sense. I know what a ton was when I was a kid and it was hammered into my head during cdl school as well at my first company. What a cop out. I have no sympathy for her because she was willfully ignorant.
Jamie Anderson says
Sadly she didn’t get a longer stay in jail. I wonder if she knows what 6 tons is now??
J.D. says
I guess she’ll know what 6 months are…
Ady says
If you don’t know , ask: Siri , what 6 Tons means?
Rollover the Original says
It says she is Almish. Hell, she barely knows how to dial the pay phone back home in her community unless it’s push button much less talk to a computer!
Speedy121 says
If you get into a situation where you are beyond your abilities , call the Police or Sheriff’s and they will willingly help you get out of the situation.
When the Law Enforcement called out to help before an incident , the outcome is a lot cheaper.
Mark A Berry says
I live in indiana i know will be hard to believe lol but she drove for SWIFT?
Scott says
Yes you are correct, she in fact drove for Swift, and if I recall correctly, it’s costing the company 750,000.00 for the repair.
Bobbie says
The driver goes to jail and her employer ? The driver does the most work and takes on the most risk and normally gets paid the least and treated the worst. Trucking company schools – you can make the truck move , close enough you passed.
Bill.comp says
That is exactly it
Doug says
I’d seen this story earlier, turns out this girl was a new O/O and has only had her Class A since 12 May 2015.
There is signage before the bridge indicating no trucks and a weight limit of 6 tons. From Overdrive magazine’s Ellen Voie…”It’s difficult to imagine how a driver could earn a CDL without understanding weights and how they pertain to axles, gross weight and bridge laws.” …
This girl, a 23 year old girl/O/O with a CDL less than 8 months old, DESTROYS a 135 year old bridge.
Jude Ossowski says
An “O/O”? I recall the pictures from this incident. She was driving a Penske rental/lease truck.
Bruce Dunlap says
I don’t know if the trucking company should the blamed. It’s assumed that a reasonable person would know what 6 tons would be. Carrying 43,000 pounds of water, she was almost at 80,000 pounds .
She should be able to get another trucking job in a few years. Tough lesson and very costly lesson learned.
Snow Walker says
How did she get her CDL to begin with?
Ryan says
She didn’t know how much 6 tons was? BS. It’s the innocent defense. Like my brother-in-law, all she has to do it say, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know” and it’s all to be forgotten. Weight is something that is covered in training as are height restrictions to prevent losing the roof of your trailer.
mousekiller says
sometimes it is HOW you say it that makes the
difference
Curt says
How come E logs didn’t save the day’
Anon E Mouse says
She claims to have been Amish. The Amish, while a bit odd and certainly no lovers of modernity, are not dummies, and have great knowledge of weights and heights. I call BS on her claim.
RaginBull69 says
And that’s the problem right there…… the employers will turn their heads the other way and deny any help for a driver but yet have no problem sending a driver to these small cities where the roads are not meant for trucks!! I have been in these types of situations before and i hated it….. i ended up quitting the jobs! It should the jobs of the employers to provide directions for each drivers that have to go into these places and provide which routes to take and also give extra pay for having to do it. None of these trucking companies offer nothing!! on that enlightenment…… get yourself a trucker’s gps and program it for the highest & heaviest load. They sell them at every truck stops.
Groo says
My first trucking job was with Swift, before cell phones and GPS were common place. Just the crappy in-cab Qualcom that would display a few lines of text at most. They loved giving absolutely horrible directions with no street names even, and there was zero incentive to get the direction “fixed”. I quit them for that and other reasons.
Curtis says
My first driving job also..running at 57mph…that was back in 93…
mousekiller says
Are you kidding me???? You haven’t heard of an atlas??. Every thing you need to know is in an atlas. Road restriction, weight limits, truck allowed or not. Kind of highway or road.
Any one that depends on a GPS solely for directions should not be in a truck for any reason. The GPS prevents a person from thinking on their own and results in terrible costly things happening that gets posted on Utube and in print no different that this young lady got into print.
Jude Ossowski says
Didn’t the article say she MISSED HER TURN? A truckload of electronics and atlases wouldn’t help her then.
Don says
The companies should provide directions? LMAO. The average person working in Dispatch and load planning had never driven a semi and you want directions from such people? I’d rather call local law enforcement or the fire department for directions.
Paul says
CDL school where she went and the dmv where shes got her CDL test must be fined so it wont happen in the future. They were the ones who didnt make sure she got enough knowledge to hold a CDL. I see so many driver with CDL who got ZERO knowledge of anything. Literally zero. Thats completely unacceptable.
Groo says
How did she pass the written test with that level of ignorance?
I don’t blame her employer. Her employer had the right to expect a State Licensed individual would be knowledgeable enough to perform the job the State licensed her to do. Carrier training new drivers is what allows a person to do their job better, easier and more efficiently, but there is nothing out there a fresh out of school trainee should not be able to handle. If she couldn’t handle backing up her truck, should should not have been licensed to drive it forward.
Tom says
Who WAS the carrier, Swift?
Baaahbby says
It was Knift… or Swight! 😉
GC says
I would say some of the responsibility lies with the school, frankly many truck school are horribly inadequate and should be shut down.
Employers should train the newbies, technically they should have learned all that in school
Chad says
There’s a lot of shady operations like that, there’s a so-called CDL School in Rolla Missouri that for $600 will guarantee you a CDL in 48 hours. I know three fools that’s been through there that are not fit to drive an automobile let alone an 18-wheeler. It’s crap like this that hurts the trucking industry and our image as a whole.
Bob says
I’m from Rolla where’s that School located?
mousekiller says
Truck driving schools teach truck driving as in backing shifting and hooking., regulations and how to do a PTI.They do not teach how to think nor how to read . It is not their job to teach basic thought process.
The big problem is – Common sense is severely lacking in todays society not just trucking. Without common sense one is destined to fail.
Dont forget that driving schools are kept into business by carriers that demand students pass and they don’t really care if they barely pass or not .The more students that make it through the class the more money the govt gives them .The govt is supporting this training program and we see the result of inadequate training every day, Not just the schools but by the trainer they are paired with that have 6 weeks more experience than the one they are training. . Dumb teaching dumber. We share the road with them.
John says
A ton being a little over 2000 lbs is taught in grammar school, along with spelling and reading. A person with an 8th grade education knows these things. A 23 year old was in 8th grade 10 years previously?
I bet she new she was way over weight and tried to cross bridge quickly, but the over height got her. Otherwise, she might’ ve made it, but would’ve severely damaged brldge and maybe truck. An almost 40 ton truck trying to cross a 6 ton weight limit bridge, plus being over height? How’d she get a CDL?
How did she know how to check axle weights for legality? Jail is a waste of tax $, fine her and test her working knowledge of necessary facts for safe and legal transport of freight.
Charles Ball says
A (short) ton in the US is exactly 2000 pounds.
A metric tonne is 2204.623lbs
A UK long ton is 2240 lns
Deaconblues62 says
23yrs old, I think shes just happy to be alive and didn’t drown to death. All is well for the town though. Now the can actually repair the bridge for free. And pocket some cash,Not saying SCAM BUT, HUMM, Posting ABSOLUTELY NO TRUCKS OVER 12 8 Would be the proper sign, like they put in parking lots where we can’t shop.
Groo says
and why is every piece of rusty iron “historic” when it gets damaged accidentally, but an “eyesore” when the taxpayers foot the bill for removal?
Gary says
she would have cried how high is 12′ 8, the sign with a truck and the slash across it was to complicated for her
Jon Siegal says
Good point. Maybe she did it on purpose. Saved the “broke town” almost 1 million dollars. She should be given a metal of honor when she gets out! (that’s someone’s daughter out there trying to make a living). The bridge can be repaired.
Richard A. says
I think she received a complete lack of training to prepare her for this job. She didn’t know the weight limit, assuming the bridge was also too low for her trailer as well. She didn’t feel comfortable backing up. Did she not have to execute a three-point turnaround as part of her driving test to obtain her CDL?
I have a few customers that while egressing requires backing out onto a busy street, with two fuel trailers. It’s common sense: check your area, put out safety cones, sound your horn, back slowly while constantly checking the mirrors. If you can get a reliable guide, even better.
If she didn’t feel capable, she should have informed her dispatch of the situation. They could have had the local police block traffic; someone could have come out to get the truck turned around for her. She would have been embarrassed, she may even have been fired, but it certainly didn’t need to end this way.
American Rambler says
This is a good example of a not uncommon trucking industry issue of failing to make sure a new driver is actually properly qualified to properly and safely operate the truck. I ran into a lot of new drivers (and not so new ones) who did not understand (or care) how to relate the numbers for weight and distance to the actual physical measurements. I would see people where they understood they could not be over 80,000 lbs gross weight, but did not make the connection that 80,000 lbs = 40 tons, which is a whole lot more than 6 tons, which is bad, so STOP and do not go there. That bridge may break. Oh, 12 feet is less than 13 feet 6 inches and an interference fit is not a good thing for a truck and bridge, so do not hope for the best and try it. STOP! In my driving days, I came across such weight and height restrictions more than once and had to do just that. STOP.
Ben says
I have to say I laughed my butt off when you called it “an interference fit” because I know what you’re talking about, and I have to agree. It’s not a good idea with a rig ???
Gary Jones says
she would’ve cried “how high is 12′ 8, let’s face it, the sign with a truck and a slash thru it was too complicated for her, the international symbol for no is a red circle with a slash examples we’ve all seen are for: smoking, fishing, swimming, parking, running so forth and so on……..
Mike says
If she moves to PA she’ll get another driving job in a day, theres companies out there don’t even care how many dui’s you get.
Jason L says
It’s always The Company with some of you folks. The law says you must do X to get a license and the “the company” requires you to meet those requirements as outlined by the law. Is there anything that is actually the persons fault or it’s ALWAYS “the company”? Is there any personal responsibility? These kids hold more computing power in their hands than Neil Armstrong used to find his way to the Moon. I get phone calls from delivery drivers that have an address and a $800 iPhone but want me to give them directions…?! What the heck? Some of you folks need to understand personal responsibility. Guess when you grow up with computers and smart phones you forget how to learn, find information or just use good sense. Want to get a laugh? Send some of these know-it-all snowflakes to the library and send them over the card catalogue to use the Dewey decimal system and see how long it takes to find the book on math and specifications to find out what a TON consist of and how to figure it out
Judy says
This driver is from that little town. I’m sure she had travelled over that bridge many times. It’s rumored that she had visited a friend up the road from that bridge and didn’t want to back onto SR 37 after her visit. She had to purposely turn off SR 37 to go down that road. And yes, the local PD would have gladly assisted her in backing up…it would have given them something to do.
Dennis sell says
Swift was the school hey sign off a form saying she was qualified to drive a truck. She paid swift 2500.00 up to 3500.00 to go to there school. Swift also get a large as credit for hiring each driver . As for the pay she was problem getting .86 per mile to her truck after expenses she was making if lucky .22 cent per mile . So far as I’m concerned swift should be held responsible for letting a drive like her out on the road she needed more training. Or should not have been behind that wheel.
Mar says
Takes a special kind of stupid …….
Charli says
“Amish” says it for me. That is such a strangling force right there that keep young people in the dark of the real world, so I would be more focused on the idiots that put her in this position instead of the obvious lack of knowledge and skills of this young person!
Joann Green-Owens says
All of you negative talkers need to zip it!! as if to say in all your years however you’re age be at this time. How many mistakes did you make at the age of 23 to your present age at this time? I for one can’t, say I haven made some major mistakes in my adulthood like, tying the knot with my last husband.
Young lady life is about having good health so that we can inhale and exhale to open our eyes each morning and keep it moving closer to a better tomorrow.
GOOD LUCK & TAKE CARE
ps, my age 56
Mark Pain says
Thank you! I wanted to call some of these people out for their cowardly, mean spirited attitudes but you did it in a much better way.
Charles Hargrave says
I would be willing to bet that everyone that has posted a comment has made at least one mistake in their career ,if you have not you have not been driving very long.So judge not least you be judged.
Tim says
She should have Googled it. But then if she paid attention in school, she would have known what 6 tons are. how many quarts in a gallon or how many feet in a fathom.
Eric Farren says
She got her cdl training thru tdi in sellersburg in. And was employed by Louisville logistics out of louisville ky if people can’t follow the story then maybe you shouldn’t be making comments
Eiler says
Is not fair taking the driver to jail. Worst criminal are walking freely in the city and the nasty government is going to take an stressful driver to jail. Each day this government make me feel more sick like to peuke.
Karen says
Let’s be honest people how many of you have at one time in your driving career went across a low weight limit bridge.? Granted dumb not knowing how much 6 tons weighs but it happens all the time !!!
Anthony says
Perhaps companies should check to insure that the drivers they are hiring know basic math anyways…How in the world did she not know how to convert 2,000lbs into a ton??!! Good grief…And she was a swift driver too??!!! Well I guess you have to start somewhere…Unfortunately her career is over before it even began…
Old Guy says
At least nobody was hurt or killed . But a young nieve Amish girl is not going to do real well in lockup. Her life is ruined. Because of one mistake like a murderer or a bank robber , rapist or some thug hoodlum … I’m curious.,will they repair the historical old bridge or just build a new concrete bridge to replace it ? Cool,old bridge . Hey , at least she will have time to learn that a ton is 2000 pounds . And study for another carrier . Maybe even become a politician ? Start her own trucking company ? ?
Mack. says
I smell a rat in her story. What made me raise my eye brows the first time I read this story just after it happened, is the Police statement that for her truck to get wedged so far into this bridge, she was traveling at 30 miles per hour. She was a local. She knew the bridge. Growing up she never saw a big rig using it. She saw the 6 ton limit many, many times before. Maybe she did not know exactly how much is 6 tons, but I seriously doubt she didn’t know that a fully loaded rig is way more than that. Otherwise why would there be a limit at all?! No! She knew that this bridge would not support her weight, but I bet anybody any money, that what she tried to do, was to crank up the rig to a high rate of speed and go over it as quickly as possible. The defence of being an uneducated Amish doesn’t pass the smell test with me, but I guess it is hard to prove.
Duke says
We have the worlds most perfect truck drivers commenting…Get over yourselves!!
Sandy says
I went to a truck driving school in WI yrs ago. When they passed me I could barely back up a truck-I was told backing up was only 10% of your job, so we’re not to worried about that, you will learn as you go-plus I didn’t know anything about doing a log book or sliding tandems and there was no mention about tons, everything was referred to as lbs. I got lucky and had a few people help me. As for the trucking school…it was shut down about 10 yrs ago. And yes I use to be a female driver, health issues took me out of the truck. Age and sex have nothing to do with what happened. Training and knowledge and common sense had everything to do in this situation
gail says
fire her trainer while your at it.