Chaos On New York Thruway As Truck Driver Strikes Multiple Overpasses

A North Carolina truckdriver issued 20 traffic tickets after striking multiple overpasses on the New York State Thruway.

If you were driving and your vehicle struck a telephone pole, what would you do? One thing I am confident you wouldn't do is continue driving and striking 11 more telephone poles. You'd stop! Why didn't this truckdriver stop after his cargo continued to bash into a dozen overpasses? Here's what we know.

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One the afternoon of March 18th, according to a press release, New York State Police received a report from the Thruway Authority that a tractor trailer hauling an over-height excavator on a flatbed trailer had struck multiple overpasses while traveling westbound between Exits 30 and 36.

Troopers assigned to State Police Syracuse located the vehicle, a 2019 Freightliner, and conducted a traffic stop at the Mattydale tandem lot in the town of Salina. The operator was identified as 38-year-old Oleksander Tarakanovskyi of North Carolina.

The investigation determined that the vehicle struck more than a dozen overpasses over approximately 60 miles. No injuries were reported, and there were no lane closures or significant traffic impacts as a result of the incident. The majority of the overpasses sustained minor damage, while a few sustained moderate damage.

Tarakanovskyi was charged with reckless endangerment in the 2nd degree. He was also issued more than 20 traffic tickets related to the incident, including for violations of federal commercial motor vehicle safety regulations. Tarakanovskyi was processed at SP Syracuse and released with an appearance ticket returnable to the town of Salina Court.