What you see here is what happens when you don’t follow the instructions of road signs. There is a reason they are put there–for your safety. On December 25th, one rookie truck driver learned this lesson the hard way, destroying a bridge built in 1880 in the process.

Say you are a bridge designer in the late 19th Century. You account for many things when designing the bridge. People, mules, horse-drawn buggies, and the likes. Perhaps you’ve even heard of some folks designing a steam-powered, self-propelled wagon in France. But the first gas-powered automobile would not be invented until 1886, and mass-produced automobiles would not be a common sight for years to come.

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So when this bridge in Paoli, Indiana, was created, designers certainly would never have known that massive, road-going semi trucks would become an integral part of our freight and supply infrastructure. The truck being driven by young Mary Lambright weighed 30 tons, while signs were posted warning that no trucks over six tons should travel over the old bridge.

According to BangShift, Lambright is only 23, and had only recently received her CDL. Following this debacle, she admitted to police that she had seen the warnings, but did not know how much six tons was in pounds. It’s 12,000, while her truck weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 60,000 pounds. She had apparently made a wrong turn, which led to attempting to cross the bridge to get back on course. Lambright also had her 17-year old cousin with her in the truck at the time.

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Lambright has been cited for: “reckless operation of Tractor-Trailer, a class B misdemeanor”, “disregarding a traffic control device, a class B infraction”, and finally for being, “overweight on posted bridge.” According to BangShift, she’ll only be fined, while the trucking company will be embroiled in legal issues regarding this incident for years to come.

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