Lorry drivers requested to stop crashing....

[Muddle238]

....in to low bridges, according to BBC News.

Sorry if this is a repost, couldn't find it anywhere. Basically this bridge has been hit by 11 lorries in 12 months according to the article, pic below of the bridge. Now you'd have thought painting bright yellow stripes on it would make it stand out a bit, but the one thing they failed to do was make the sign telling drivers exactly how low the low bridge is a bit bigger, so you can actually see the numbers! It's all well and good being given dayglo markings but the really crucial bit of information is on that tiny little sign hidden in the middle. Why not plaster the height restriction across the full width of the bridge in 3ft high letters? Or am I the only one that thinks this...

[Muddle238]

g7jtk said:

A warning banner stretched across the road more than braking distance away from the obstruction, like they have on some construction sites would make sense.

This. It's no good having 4-inch high numbers mounted to the obstacle they're supposed to be guarding. You need bigger, clearer numbers displayed before the obstacle. I know they often have these signs at the beginnings of roads but the bridges in question can be miles away, vehicles can join further down etc

[Muddle238]

Turn7 said:

At what point does it become the drivers responsibility then ?

It will always be the drivers responsibility but when an accident hotspot is identified, it makes sense to do something about it. I don't consider painting a bridge yellow as doing something about it, the bridge will appear as a visible object with or without yellow paint. What should be done is greater warning on the approach to the bridge, with larger signs stating the height limit in bigger characters. The problem I have with this example is that all the yellow striping and other markings distract the eye away from the relatively small sign that has the height printed on it. The only crucial element here is that published height, as that's the only thing telling lorry drives whether they'll clear the bridge or not. Typically, that information is printed in the smallest characters of any sign mounted to that bridge. Common sense? No.

Not saying that the drivers aren't ultimately responsible for hitting it, but accidents are a combination of factors and I believe that one of those factors is the way the height measurement is visually lost/minimal in a sea of bright colours and other markings.