Low bridge! Walmart truck driver gets into a too-tight spot
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 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.
Just two days later and in the same spot:Â http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgWHOSDbdRQ&list=UUI_QELv03oS2fw5bJR9Om1Q
Walmart(swift transportation) always hires the geniuses
More hilarity from the Great Wal of China. Maybe someone will start a Website called the Drivers of Walmart to go along with the pics of the Goofy customers.
He got Scroogled!
New slogan:
Walmart -- high expectations, low results.
RECALCULATING!!!
Guess WalMart won't be offering Commercial Driving License training any more...
Guess WalMart now lowers bridges, in addition to prices.
Guess brain cells aren't required to drive for WalMart
Job Opening at Walmart! Please bring your resume and tape measure!Â
Sorry folks he didn't need to measure anything, the trailer is clearly marked 13-feet, 6-inches tall as every driver this side of the Mississippi would know. Now if he was an East Coast driver the trailers are lower.
As a driver he needs to not rely on that GPS.
I am shocked that the cab of the truck made it under that bridge. Â From the photos, it looks as if the cab with the aerodynamic cowl is higher than the bottom of the bridge??? Â
If you are paying so little attention to what you are doing, you crash a bridge you are a moron. I drove rural truck rts for 43 years and would run up on a situation like this one daily......NEVER hit one though, but my momma tought me to THINK AND PAY ATTENTION.
@DaCoast Think before you judge. Did your mother teach you that? Before you open your yap and call someone a moron why don't you step back and realize you weren't there. You weren't ONE PERSON who made a mistake and suddenly the whole of Oregon is judging you.
I know what you'll say, though. "Well I'd own up to my mistake." I'm quite sure Mr. Bickford is well aware of what happened. Don't stoke the fire of shame with your terrible words.
there were no signs at all. i was one of the ones that had to turn around 1 mile from my house and go back to salem and then go to independence.
@Tracy West Did you stop at Walmart on the way home?
Low prices finding low bridges !
I think flyingtime might have figured out what happened. The driver measured his tractor and trailer when the trailer was full of product. As he makes his delivery, the shocks come up making the trailer an inch or more taller than when he began the trip. He might not have figured that into the height of the trailer as he approached the underpass.
Error #1, however, was relying on GPS. I've given up on those things because I've used them five times and they've steered me down roads I should never have been on each time. I now use those funky looking things called maps. They tell me bad roads form good ones and I've never been lost or in bad situations when I've used one.
Ooopsie...!!!!
Looks almost like the trailer was empty...lucky for everyone...would've been a real mess with TV's or eggs or other high price stuff....pretty sure that driver won't be back.
It's not falling prices....it's fallen brain cells
Must've bought his GPS at Walmart.
@Festivus HAHA
I know I heard Obama warn us about 'trucks will be crashing into bridges', dogs will be mating with cats if his sequester goes through. Must be true.
@last boyscout Do you dream about Obama every night? He's relevant to everything in your life, eh?
Hrmm... get a girlfriend?
Considering you're so obsessed with Obama, maybe you ought to go get a room with him and tell him about your fascination
@last boyscout @Old29 Obama Obama Obama Obama Obama Obama.  There you go -- you can cut-and-paste those into another story that's totally unrelated to President Obama.  You're kind of a one-trick pony, aren't you?
@last boyscout Zzzzz...
With a sudden price cut, the truck would have been lower! LOL
hah! and now you know why he drove for wally world!~
grief counselor availibility?
My husband & I are in the trucking biz.. He hauls spec com (special commodities) and is one of the guys everyone HATES on the highway. He's the one hauling over-sized & usually has pilot cars at both ends, frequently with police escorts as well.
Truckers can NOT use a standard GPS system, they don't include the pertinent info that trucks must take into account. There are special GPS systems for truckers, the GPMiler is one, they include bridge height, weight restrictions and a ton of other info specific to trucking.
I don't know how he "misread" 12' 9" and figured a 13' 6" trailer would fit.. That isn't even close.. You have to allow several inches extra.. On the highway if you're over height say 15' 2" and you come upon a 15' 3" overpass, you have to ramp it. That overpass has "bounce" due to the traffic flowing across it, not to mention road slope etc... One or two spare inches isn't enough to risk it.Â
@cwpholder Sounds like he simply chose to believe the GPS rather than the road sign. Doh!
@cwpholder I remember the 1st time I drove 95 into NYC.  On the GWB, I saw the sign up ahead that said 12'9".  Freaked me out! After heavy braking action, I saw that other trucks my height were going right through.  Somebody piped up on the radio and asked "First time driving out here?".  Haha.  Yep.  I found out that the NE often measures from the middle of the axle and up, not from the ground up.  So stupid all the variances all over the US regarding a Federal Highway.
Oops it's PCMiler, there's also Intelliroute both a good sellers and great tools but like everything in trucking they are expensive! $$$Â
It's a little late for that trucker. Do they sell PCMiler at Walmart? If not, they might do so!
@jpk It is pretty expensive. We looked at getting one of the trucking GPS systems for hubs but couldn't afford it. But he knows his laws and watches his signs. He also will err on the side of caution and would rather take a longer route than to risk an iffy situation.
Oops!
@Mikey Thanks for contributingÂ
I was driving in Kentucky in a rental car once and the GPS unit was giving me instructions after the fact. Turn LEFT - as I passed the road by 10 yards. Turn RIGHT . . . . I did much better by purchasing a local road map, plot my route beforehand and follow simple hand written instructions. Got me there in far less time and with far less hassle. Not all hi-tech gadgets are making life better for us. Reading the sign on the bridge might have worked better for this man like in the "old days".Â
Whoops, too bad it wasn't filled with the overpriced Chinese products,  He could blame it on bloated prices that were raised since he picked up his load.
Epic fail!
Re-calculating.....
@OSUx2Â LOL I LOVE those "mayhem" commercials..Â
It's pretty sad when some of the commercials are more interesting that the television shows they are in. Of course, since commercials now make up 90% of all shows, I guess that's not a surprise....lol.
Ahh, ex-Wal-Mart driver. As soon as I saw the picture I knew exactly where this guy is at. This guy is soup-sandwich, there are signs ALL OVER THE PLACE saying how there is a VERY low bridge ahead. If I was a betting man this guy had a GPS saying to get to Albany from the Independence area, take the route that he did. I tried that a couple of times. It may be shorter, but it is way slower, I stick to the Highway.
BAM!!! Just read it "following the advice of his GPS"
I looked at the picture first and said River Rd outside of Salem.
I was right!
There ARE warning signs before stating clearance.
Doesn't the driver know his clearance??
I was thinking the exact same things!
The driver needs to be sent to jail for a year to think about what he did.
It was an accident. Â People like you that want to punish everybody excessively should be put in a dark hole with rats and delicious meats dangling just out of reach for at least a year, so you can think.
@Allan Â
It's really not an accident. Accidents are reasonably unforeseeable events. This was pure incompetence and not something that any 'professional' driver should ever do.