Mike Johnson
ECB Publishing, Inc.
On Thursday, Sept. 9, at approximately 2:40 p.m., a Jefferson County garbage truck, with a dumpster on top of it, was driving northbound on U.S. 19. As the truck passed under the I-10 overpass, the dumpster struck the bottom side of the bridge. The driver was able to pull over onto the outside shoulder and come to a controlled stop. The dumpster fell off the top of the garbage truck, landing on the shoulder of the roadway.
The accident caused damage to the the overpass, taking chunks of concrete out of the supports as well as crumpling the county's dumpster, costing the county a minimum of $600 in damages.
After Florida Highway Patrol arrived on scene, the driver, James Gloster, from Boston, Ga., was charged with careless driving. The maximum penalty for a careless driving charge under Florida law is $500, while the minimum fine is $160. While many moving violations result in three points or fewer on a person's driver's license, a careless driving conviction can result in four points on a driver's license.