A truck driver suffered a scary ordeal in Baltimore, Maryland Wednesday afternoon. As he was crossing the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge, wind gusts reached 55 mph and overturned his truck.
The truck was draped precariously on the side of the bridge.
The driver, James Thomas Savage, Jr., 53, sustained minor injuries and was transferred to Anne Arundel Medical Center and was released later that afternoon.
The accident shut down the bridge for several hours.
“Kevin Aftung, Chief of the Queen Anne’s County Department of Emergency Services, said he was told that when rescue personnel went to remove Savage from the truck the wind tore the truck’s door off,” My Eastern Shore reported.
At the time of the accident, the bridge was under level one wind restrictions. Toll booth operators warn drivers about the restrictions, but it’s up to drivers to police themselves.
“No matter what restrictions you put in place, you cannot mandate common sense,” John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic told the Washington Post. “We also need to look at the policy because this is a wake-up call for all of us about how powerful these elements can be. We’ve had two wake-up calls in the past year.”