If you needed a reminder that trucking companies really should double-check their paperwork before sending a rig out on the road, Monday’s crash on I-87 in South Nyack, New York will do the trick. A tractor-trailer slammed into the South Broadway Bridge overpass around 12:20 p.m., and the whole thing was caught on dashcam by a nearby AAA Carting truck. The footage is the kind that makes you sit up straight in your seat: a spray of debris, a truck tipping onto its side, and a long, ugly skid down the highway.
According to New York State Police, the driver was 50-year-old Pernell Harris of York, South Carolina, hauling a 2020 Mack tractor-trailer that turned out to be taller than it should have been. After clipping the bridge, the truck rolled onto its side and slid into a parked 2025 Toyota sedan on the shoulder, reported CBS News. The Toyota driver was taken to Nyack Hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening and is expected to make a full recovery. Harris walked away without a scratch, though he did walk away with a ticket for operating an over-height vehicle.
What makes the video especially nerve-wracking is that this wasn’t an isolated blip. Commenters on the original post claim a different tractor-trailer had already clipped an overpass in the same area shortly before this crash, sending debris into cars parked on the shoulder, which is apparently why so many vehicles were stopped there in the first place. If true, that means drivers pulled over to be safe from one runaway truck ended up in the path of another. It’s the kind of coincidence that sounds made up until you remember that traffic on the Thruway rarely does anyone any favors.
Two lanes were shut down while crews cleared the wreckage, but all lanes reopened by 4 p.m. The Thruway Authority said the bridge itself only suffered minor damage. Small mercy, considering it’s the second time in recent years a truck has hit that particular overpass.
An Old Problem That Keeps Repeating Itself
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Bridge strikes like this one are more common than most drivers realize, and they almost always come down to the same root cause: a truck that’s too tall for the route it’s on.
One commenter on the original post put it bluntly, pointing out that hauling a container that’s over 12 feet tall on a flatbed is a rookie mistake. Height clearance signs are posted for a reason, and low bridges do not care how experienced a driver is or how tight a delivery schedule might be.
Nobody Seriously Hurt, But It Could Have Gone Worse
The most important detail here is that everyone involved is expected to be fine. A crash this violent, with a fully loaded trailer tipping over at highway speed, had the potential for a far grimmer outcome.
Our take: this one is a reminder that “close call” stories usually have a little luck baked in, and this crew got theirs.