In Durham, North Carolina, there’s a railroad trestle that’s been destroying trucks for years. There’s a sign on the road below warning drivers that the clearance is only 11’8″, but dozens of vehicles have ignored the hazard — including flashing “over height” warning lights — and ended up with their tops being sheared off, or brought to a complete stop by the trestle. Jurgen Henn, who has a website devoted to videos of the trestle, says a few years ago the railroad company installed a large steel crash beam in front of it for protection, but there have been so many crashes that they’ve already had to replace the beam once.
Here’s a compilation of some of the trucks that took on the trestle and lost. You’ll notice that they’re mostly rental trucks, which means the drivers aren’t pros and probably aren’t keeping a close eye on the clearance height signs.