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this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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https://maps.app.goo.gl/jmYi6euT36iMbMqq7
Think this is the bridge in question which appears fine on Google Street view.
I thought so! You can actually see that the most recent Street view (May, 2023) has barriers, but how can someone miss the gaping hole, even without signs? The driver would have still needed to drive through the overgrowth :/
This is what they would have seen as they approached the bridge:
Yes, barriers should have been put there, but being a low-speed residential area, the driver shouldn't have missed it. Really strange story, especially putting blame on Google.
EDIT: Barriers were put there, but vandals destroyed them, and they had to be removed ahead of this accident. SOURCE
If he was driving at night in the rain I could imagine that looking like a big dark reflective puddle and not realizing it's a gaping hole until you're too close to stop.
September 30, 2022 in Hickory, NC it rained 5 inches. That is a shit load of rain. It doesn't say when he was driving home, but from 5 PM to 7 PM, it rained 1.7 inches, the peak of the storm. Driving through a wooded, unlit area in a torrential downpour... I'd wager you're right.
Article also says he drowned. In this little creek:
Yeah, it was raining hard.
This is the actual scene.
The overgrowth would have been visible ahead of the bridge, even in rain. I wonder if any dashcam was on board and if speed was also a factor.
He wasn't found until the next morning, so that's not a great indicator of what it would have looked like as he was driving. A few comments up is a picture showing the approach he came from is not nearly as overgrown, also.
The photo showing the actual vehicle in the water clearly shows overgrowth from the day the accident happened. He would have to have driven through it.
It's odd that he was found so late, TBH.