At 4:40 a.m. in the morning Gilberto Cantu, a truck driver from Texas, approached the New Jersey entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel and drove his 13 feet 6 inches high big rig (loaded with bathtubs, toilets and plumbing fixtures) into the tunnel that has a height limit of 13 feet. Do I really need to tell you what happened next? (Obviously I don't because you can see the leftover remains above).
Gilberto, you really have some explaining to do. You've been driving a truck for a while, but let's suppose you were a first time driver. You drove from Texas to NJ, so you had at least 1,762 miles (about 1 day 4 hours) to practice. I'm sure you have a CDL and at one point in time have read the entire handbook.................but let's suppose you forgot tunnel safety procedures. Let's try and come up with a plausible explanation for your boss and how such a seemingly ridiculous "accident" is even possible. I'm under the assumption you're a rookie driver and here are some points that may aid your case:
- Let's suppose you were tired from the long hall and just wanted to go to bed ASAP.
- Let's suppose you had an EZ-PASS and didn't have to stop at the tunnel entrance
- Let's suppose that none of the many camouflaged, AK-47 carrying patrollers stopped you.
- Let's say it was really dark in the tunnel and some of the lights were not working.
- Let's suppose you're dyslecic and had trouble reading the height limit signs.
- Let's suppose you're deaf and didn't hear the initial scrapings on the rig's roof or the police sirens.
- Let's suppose you suffer from Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome and didn't feel the roof of your tractor-trailer peeling off like a can of sardines.
But you know what, it's not really your fault. I completely blame the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the tunnel. Their spokesman, Steve Coleman, shared with me the "minor" precautions the tunnel makes to avoid such accidents.
First, according to Steve, when one enters the toll plaza, an electronic sensor is tripped, several stoplights are activated and police officers at the plaza use a loudspeaker to order the driver to stop. Port Authority was responsible for stopping your right there! Perhaps.......the sensors were broken or faulty.
Getting past that, there are flashing signs and a loudspeaker in New Jersey that continues go off. Duh............it was dark, you couldn't see AND you're deaf. How was that suppose to prevent this accident from occurring? Again, Port Authority is responsible for making the tunnel handicap friendly.
According to Steve, at least once a week a truck is stopped. And on the rare occasions when trucks have entered and scraped the tunnel’s ceiling, drivers have invariably stopped, and the police employ a "height-reducing technique" of letting air out of the trucks’ tires so they could be backed out. (Since when did common sense become a "technique".) Again, not your fault. Where were the police when you needed to let the air out of your tires?
Now you're faced with nine misdemeanor moving violations, including reckless driving, failure to obey a traffic signal and failure to obey an officer’s command. I'm not a lawyer, but we've just proven you're innocent and you now have all the ammunition you need to beat the case.
I wish you the best of luck explaining this to your boss (and then the judge). If there are any readers out there that my be able to provide more explanations to help Gilberto's case, please post your thoughts below.
In the interim, Gilberto is currently applying for his Private Pilot's License and NEEDS SOME SUPPORT!
|