Posted on 03/05/2014 7:46:41 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
ALINA, N.Y. -- A language barrier kept the driver of a box truck Tuesday from understanding several warning signs in time to miss hitting the low railroad bridge over Onondaga Lake Parkway.
Detective Jon Seeber, of the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office, said An B. Zhang was driving the box truck north on the parkway when his truck hit the railroad bridge and wedged under it.
Zhang, 40, of San Jose, Calif., speaks Mandarin and could not understand the warnings about the low bridge quickly enough, Seeber said. No one was injured.
Crews struggled to free the box truck from under the bridge and resorted to deflating the truck's tires. A tow truck was also called in. Traffic on the parkway's northbound lane was shut down for about two hours and the southbound lane was briefly closed as crews maneuvered the truck.
After Zhang got back on the road headed for Interstate 81, he got turned around and again went in the wrong direction, repeating his mistake. But, Seeber, said, deputies caught up with him and guided him safely to I-81.
Zhang was ticketed for failure to obey a traffic control device. He is scheduled to appear in Salina Town Court at a later date.
(Excerpt) Read more at syracuse.com ...
In California they bend over assbackward to accomodate every language but english!
That cracks me up whenever I see it.
“Yes, in CA you can request tests in multiple languages.”
It must really be fun to take a test written in multiple languages!
The last four or five times I've had dealings with the California DMV, they were models of efficiency. In, see only the people I needed to see, got what I needed done quickly and accurately, and out.
I was astonished, each time.
The last time I was there was in the 1990s. Are you talking rural California or has something drastically changed?
Hate to admit it but I crossed the same bridge three times when returning from Quebec City to Montreal. Dang signs were in F’n French!
OTOH, nothing normal ever happens to me...
And so it continued. But at the very least, they were no longer hitting the train trestle :-)
Also used to watch the local tree-cutters from Asplundt pull up every morning. One guy would jump out of the first truck and guide each of the 5 or 6 trucks under the trestle as far to the right as possible. After the last truck cleared by a matter of an inch or less, he would hop in the last truck and off to work they went.
The hay-bale trucks got off easiest.
Zhang, 40, of San Jose, Calif.
That bridge has some English speakers tear the roof off of their trucks too....
The bridge clearance I believe in Syracuse is 10’9”...
That is low.. in any language.. unless you play basketball.. that extra nine inches would be tougher to dunk on..
If his drivers license is a CDL then he is required to know English & if he doesn’t the folks that issued the license can get a load of trouble as well as the driver .
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