The craziest part isn’t that 23-year-old Mary Lambright drove her 30-ton truck onto this tiny bridge in Paoli, Indiana built in 1880. It’s that she knew that the bridge’s weight limit was six tons. She just didn’t know how many pounds that was.


Seriously, that’s what she told the police after the crash on Christmas, as they note in their report:

Ms. Lambright was aware of the iron bridge stating she had driven on it several times in her personal vehicle and was also aware of the posted signage “no semis, weight limit of 6 tons”. When asked by Paoli Police why she continued through the bridge knowing the weight limit was only 6 tons she admitted to not knowing how many pounds that was. She was advised the weight of the vehicle at the time of the crash was close to 30 tons.




Lambright, who got her CDL earlier this year, said she wasn’t comfortable backing up her Volvo truck, so she just chanced it on the bridge.

That bet didn’t exactly pay out.

BangShift reports that Lambright’s company will be the one that will be in a real heap of legal crap for this, though Lambright herself should expect a $135 fine for her citations of “reckless operation of Tractor-Trailer” (a class B misdemeanor), “disregarding a traffic control device” (a class B infraction), and “overweight on posted bridge.”


The real mystery here is how she got her CDL. Lambright was uninjured.

Photo Credits: Orange County Law Enforcement