Even despite being raised 8 inches, America’s favorite low bridge can still occasionally deliver.
North Carolina’s famously low “11-foot-8″ bridge—which is actually 12 feet, four inches tall, now—recently claimed yet another victim. Over the years, countless drivers have had their trucks and trailers decapitated while attempting to drive over-height vehicles underneath. While incidents have slowed recently thanks to countermeasures by the city of Durham, a few inattentive drivers still squeak through—like the one in this recent video.
As you approach the now-12-foot-4 bridge, there are height sensors that measure whether a truck is too tall to fit underneath. If those sensors notice a tall-boy approaching, a warning sign will flash ahead of the bridge: “OVERHEIGHT MUST TURN.” That giant sign, along with the additional yellow 12-foot-4 signs, and the giant yellow metal horizontal protective beam somehow weren’t enough for this driver, who plowed through all of it. The aforementioned beam proceeded to rip the roof off of their trailer like a can opener.
Yovo68. YouTube
In addition to the schadenfreude of watching a fool’s truck get a metal buzzcut, this specific video is more pleasant to watch than those of the bridge’s other victims, in the way those TikToks marked “oddly satisfying” typically are. The trailer’s roof peels off perfectly, leaving a metallic mullet hanging off the back. The truck doesn’t even slow down; the bridge just peels the roof off like a can of cat food. I also love how the driver just continues on, like nothing ever happened. Since the rear of the trailer also came off in the incident, you can’t see the truck’s brake lights, but it doesn’t look like brakes were applied. The truck simply rounds the bend out of view of the camera, without stopping.
I’m not up to date on my North Carolina trucking laws, but in New Jersey all commercial trucks have a height sticker inside the cab, providing a minimum overhead clearance level, and all CDL-carrying drivers know this. So it’s a wonder to me how any of these truck drivers see all of the warning signs, know how tall their truck is, and still drive underneath. I’m not sure how much more the city of Durham can do. Preventative measures only work if people pay attention to them. But, the more drivers lose their lids, the more fun we get to have.
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