"drove away after having air let out of its tires" is a real thing

[danny burstein]

for the amusement of anyone still hanging around here
[wsj]

Historic Covered Bridge Eats Vehicles by the Dozens.
"I Haven't Seen a Truck Win Yet."

June Neumann was in the backroom of her Scandinavian gift shop in this historic
village outside Chicago on a recent day when she said she heard an
all-too-familiar "woompf-boom-clap" echo through the quiet streets.

"You know what that sound is," said Ms. Neumann, whose shop, Viking Treasures,
is a few doors down from a one-lane covered bridge that is a symbol for the
town--and a magnet for inattentive drivers. "I grabbed my phone, ran out and
called the sheriff."

Defying numerous signs and warnings, the driver of a 15-foot box truck had
tried to squeeze under the bridge's metal-and-wood cover with a posted height
of 8'6".

It was the 41st such accident [a] since the bridge reopened in 2020, after the
original all-wood covering was demolished by another too-tall box truck that
tried to go under two years earlier, according to Christopher Covelli, deputy
chief of the Lake County Sheriff's Office. A rental truck that got stuck on the
bridge Monday, and drove away [b] after having air let out of its tires, was
the 42nd. None of the drivers have been injured, Mr. Covelli said.
=========
rest:
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/historic-covered-bridge-eats-vehicles-by-the-dozens-i-havent-seen-a-truck-win-yet-11664892323?st=ivx7d89iadifero&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink>
or
https://www.wsj.com/articles/historic-covered-bridge-eats-vehicles-by-the-dozens-i-havent-seen-a-truck-win-yet-11664892323?st=ivx7d89iadifero&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

[a] Dear WSJ: Please stop defaulting to using the blameless
descriptor "accident" when, 99 or so pct of the time, like here,
there's human [ir]responsibility at play.

Even the Feds have decided to move away from "accident"
to "crash". (NYC opted for "collission")

Yes, there's lots of inertia.

[b] No, WSJ, the truck didn't drive away. It was driven away
by the clumsy oaf

Oh, and dannyb would strongly suggest a redesign of the approach
with better signage and, well, how about... a warning signal
that screams out at the motor vehicle operator if their vehicle
is too tall?

_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dan...@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

[Mark Shaw]

danny burstein <dan...@panix.com> wrote:

> [a] Dear WSJ: Please stop defaulting to using the blameless
> descriptor "accident" when, 99 or so pct of the time, like here,
> there's human [ir]responsibility at play.

> Even the Feds have decided to move away from "accident"
> to "crash". (NYC opted for "collission")

> Yes, there's lots of inertia.

ISWYDT.

--
Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm
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"All of my mistakes are giving me ideas." - Natalie Lileks