Photos: Walmart semi loses battle with short Oregon overpass
INDEPENDENCE, Ore. - A Walmart truck got stuck under a railroad overpass Monday morning, blocking a rural Marion County road in both directions, the sheriff's office said.
The trucker driver, 63-year-old Glenn V. Bickford of Coos Bay, told deputies he misread the height restriction sign on River Road and thought his truck and trailer would fit. The trailer is 13-feet, 6-inches tall. The underpass is restricted to 12-foot, 9-inch tall vehicles.
Bickford was following the advice of his truck's GPS system to navigate between Salem and Monmouth.
Bickford was cited by Deputy Burnham for violating the road use limits.
Burnham remained at the scene to assist Bickford in contacting his employer and removing the truck and trailer.
Wreckers have been called, but the response time from Woodburn will likely leave the road blocked for several hours, the sheriff's office said.
Marion County Public Works is posting signs to warn drivers to use alternate routes to Independence.
Always low clearance. Always.
Reminds me of that navy joke about a captain of a cruiser or whatever talking over the radio to an ensign, the captain telling the ensign to shift course to avoid an obvious collision, and vice versa. Â Each response becomes more intense for the captain, but the ensign gets the last word. Â He's manning a lighthouse.
Re-calculating...
The GPS issue is due to the fact that the companies that own the truck provide a Qualcom unit that does not give them truck routes. Which is stupid since it is a communication system for a TRUCK..lol Glad the driver is okay. As a wife of a trucker, this is one of those things that make you want to hold your husband that much tighter.
"What a difference 9-inches can make"
That's what she said
is it really necessary to cite this elderly man? Â he's already having a bad day. Â he'll probably lose his job. Â has deputy burnham had such a superior mistake-free life that he sees it fit to rub salt in a hard working man's wounds?
Once again folks need to be reminded: NEVER EVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS TRUST YOUR GPS 100%. Use print maps of the area you are in if possible, open your eyes and pay attention to what is going on around you.
The photos are just great. :D Unfortunate, but the angle and complete smush is neat.Â
You pay for cheap "Wal-Mart" labor, you get cheap results
Sue the gps system manufacturer. LOL
For those out there that have never driven one of these truck you have a LOT of things going on and you have just a secound or so to read the height signs. If you trust technolagy to much this is what happens. I have "slide" up to a low bridge and then had to back up out of a spot like that with a lot of cars not giving me an inch of room....
@bustedupredneck The sign on the overpass itself is hardly legible.
@Hadrian.
That's what I was thinking as well.  Bad lighting, no lighting, doesn't really say what time the incident happened, but yeah, I'd be hard pressed to see it as well .... I wonder if they had any traffic signs leading up to the shorty !
@bustedupredneck I encountered one in Canada once when I took the wrong turn and the sign was in metric only. I didn't take the time to do the math because I could tell by looking at it that it wasn't more than 10 feet! Luckily, some very nice man stopped traffic for me and helped me get backed back out onto the other road. Plenty of adventures out there!
When did Walmart get in to the overpass hauling buisness??? I guess they do sell EVERYTHING!
Ive been wacthing this guys channel for years. He has a webcam set up on a low clearance bridge outside of his work, I think he has 70 something videos posted now.
http://www.youtube.com/user/yovo68
Headline doesn't make it seem newsworthy since the truck always loses. Would be newsworthy if the truck actually won! ;)
Oh yeah, misread it alright. No, he just didn't pay attention. Interesting reading this after the trucker story the other night.
HOLY CRAP!!!!
That's not even close, what was the driver thinking?
@Cooter_Brown Obviously he wasn't.
@Cooter_Brown He was thinking how lucky he was that deregulation in the trucking industry provided him an opportunity to showcase his skills as a driver, thats what he was thinking. Now he is thinking maybe they will keep him around as a greeter.Â
I glad he didnt kill anyone this time.
@T_BONE_WALKER @Cooter_Brown Remember it was Jimmy Carter that did the Deregulation before he left office. Reagan opposed it.
@Exiled_Patriot @T_BONE_WALKER @Cooter_Brown Now stop that... the facts just confuse them...
@T_BONE_WALKERÂ @Cooter_Brown And I am sure that all of the union drivers are top notch too, huh?
People would drive into a lake if their GPS told them to, and have.
If you drive trucks GPS is worthless. You need good maps that show low bridges and RR crossings. Then you have weight limits and length restrictions on so many roads. Being a retired truck driver I really hated it when the trucking industry was deregulated decades ago. It didn't help anything. I think that we need more regulations particularly by the states to keep these bigger rigs off of our backroads and city streets. Require smaller vehicles to do the local deliveries. It would be better for car traffic, would be safer for the public and it would help create more jobs.
@Blindman ship everything by rail to every city and have local trucks haul only in that city. problem solved
@Exiled_Patriot @Blindman Actually, not. There's not nearly enough miles of railroad to do that and what we do have is already rather congested. And there are vast spaces that have no railroad within miles and miles.
@Exiled_Patriot @Commenter87643 @Blindman Sorry for raining on it! :) (even if you're just used to it here ;)
@Commenter87643 @Exiled_Patriot @Blindman I was make fun sarcastic comments to Blindman. who thinks LTL is the way to go.
@Blindman Thomas Guide was always my go to.
That is not only a low bridge, but a very tight corner going under it as well. Might help to use "un"common sense as well as a GPS when driving. Â There are much better ways to get to Monmouth than using that particular road.
Always Low Bridges.........er Prices!
Ah, another image to put up on "The People of Walmart" website.
@path_tech I submitted it.
@Glassman LOL! You never know, knowing Wal Mart, they just may use it. ;)
@swansong68 @Zoso @Glassman Advertise it as "Semis flattened while you wait"?
@Zoso @Glassman Or start advetising it as a service - lol