JERSEY CITY, N.J. -Stunned Pacific Avenue residents couldn’t quite believe their eyes Thursday when an 18-wheeler smashed into a traffic light pole at the corner and proceeded to drag the pole into parked cars along their residential street.

The 65-year-old driver of the Ohio-based rig was heading west on Communipaw about 10:45 a.m. when he hooked a right onto Pacific – but the rig was apparently too big to make the turn comfortably.

The trailer uprooted the pole, but the driver never realized it, said Lt. Edgar Martinez. The pole then smacked into three parked cars, reports said. The driver was not issued a summons because he never realized he was dragging the pole, Martinez said.

Chris Bray, a designer who was at home with the flu, said he saw the truck dragging the light pole, with a green “Communipaw” street sign attached,

“I saw it go past my house, barely missing one car before it hit another,” Bray said. “There were a lot of people screaming at him to stop.”

Adam Veenhuis, who lives at the corner of Communipaw and Pacific, said he ran out of his house to see what was going on after he heard a sound like a small plane dropping in his backyard. He saw the truck driving down the street with the pole straddling its roof.

Residents said they worry that the trucks, which are cutting through an industrial site at the end of the street, could hit children who play along the sidewalk.

Bray said he plans to take his complaint to the Jersey City City Council to ask for trucks to be diverted down a wider street.

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