How much does it cost to raise a railway bridge?

[Munter]

It's well within our technical abilities to fit sensors to the front of double deckers, so they would notice the low bridge/other obstruction, and come to a stop before hitting it.

Not cheap but, could stop the humans being stupid.

[saaby93]

Frank7 said:

Steve_D said:

One of the kids onboard said they realised the driver was not on their normal route. It also seems this may have been first day back to school.
So, quite likely new driver and possibly does not normally drive a double decker.

Steve

I KNOW that you’re not excusing the driver Steve, but as I mentioned before, a double decker will usually have a height notice in the driver’s compartment, e.g., if it says “this bus is 4.4 metres high”, and there’s a sign just before the bridge, saying this bridge has a clearance of 4.1 metres, then you don’t proceed.
I’m guessing that a lot of drivers either just don’t look at any height notice in their cab, or see the bridge, and nonchalantly think, “meh, I can get under that.”

Arent the heights shown in feet? is the cab sign in metres?
Reminds me of those 'Drive on the Left' signs at Croughton American Air base. Theyve placed them on the left side of the road, What's the point of that?

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Munter said:

It's well within our technical abilities to fit sensors to the front of double deckers, so they would notice the low bridge/other obstruction, and come to a stop before hitting it.

Not cheap but, could stop the humans being stupid.

They'd probably come to a stop at an awful lot of overhanging tree branches as well.

[Frank7]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

Munter said:

It's well within our technical abilities to fit sensors to the front of double deckers, so they would notice the low bridge/other obstruction, and come to a stop before hitting it.

Not cheap but, could stop the humans being stupid.

They'd probably come to a stop at an awful lot of overhanging tree branches as well.

From the London Evening Standard, May 2008
A woman was killed today when she was hit by a tree which is believed to have been torn up by a passing bus near Tower Bridge.

The freak accident is thought to have happened when overhanging branches of a plane tree smashed into the top deck of a No188 and became entangled.

As the driver desperately tried to control the bus, the tree trunk was wrenched out of the ground and struck 23-year-old Emily Diamond on the head as she was walking along the street. She is understood to have just left her office 50 yards away at Sunlight Projects, a letting company, to check a property.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

If you look at a lot of double decker buses, they'll either have damage up on the top nearside corner from striking branches, or some kind of guard up there to take the impact of such things.

Obviously this damage doesn't apply if the bus is brand new or has been recently refurbed etc.

[Frank7]

saaby93 said:

Reminds me of those 'Drive on the Left' signs at Croughton American Air base. Theyve placed them on the left side of the road, What's the point of that?

It’s the same when you leave the ferry terminal at Dover and drive up the slope of the A2 toward London, you’ll see signboards on the left in French, saying, “TENEZ LA GAUCHE”, (literally, hold the left), and in German, “LINKS FAHREN”, (drive left).
I guess that the authorities think that the continentals are already on the left, but it won’t hurt to remind them.

[RobM77]

Frank7 said:

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

Munter said:

It's well within our technical abilities to fit sensors to the front of double deckers, so they would notice the low bridge/other obstruction, and come to a stop before hitting it.

Not cheap but, could stop the humans being stupid.

They'd probably come to a stop at an awful lot of overhanging tree branches as well.

From the London Evening Standard, May 2008
A woman was killed today when she was hit by a tree which is believed to have been torn up by a passing bus near Tower Bridge.

The freak accident is thought to have happened when overhanging branches of a plane tree smashed into the top deck of a No188 and became entangled.

As the driver desperately tried to control the bus, the tree trunk was wrenched out of the ground and struck 23-year-old Emily Diamond on the head as she was walking along the street. She is understood to have just left her office 50 yards away at Sunlight Projects, a letting company, to check a property.

The only time I used the dashcam in my previous car was when an artic lorry I was following struck a tree. It destroyed the trailer, which then got dragged over some poor guy’s new van. It was so satisfying to be able to pull up, get his e-mail, and within 30 minutes he had a video of the whole thing for insurance. Marked bridges are one thing, but I don’t blame this guy for hitting a tree - it was fairly obscure.

[saaby93]

A list of low bridge winners
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershi...

beeb said:

1. Watling Street, Hinckley, Leicestershire - struck 25 times

2. Bromford Road, Dudley, West Midlands - struck 24 times

3. St John's Street, Lichfield, Staffordshire - struck 23 times

4. Stuntney Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire - struck 19 times

5. Abbey Farm, Thetford, Norfolk - struck 16 times

6. Thurlow Park Road, Tulse Hill, London - struck 14 times

7= Carlisle Road, Cleland, North Lanarkshire - struck 13 times

7= Harlaxton Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire - struck 13 times

7= Stonea Road, Stonea, Cambridgeshire - struck 13 times

10= Coddenham Road, Needham Market, Suffolk - struck 11 times

10= Lower Downs Road, Wimbledon, London - struck 11 times

[Frank7]

saaby93 said:

Frank7 said:

Steve_D said:

One of the kids onboard said they realised the driver was not on their normal route. It also seems this may have been first day back to school.
So, quite likely new driver and possibly does not normally drive a double decker.

Steve

I KNOW that you’re not excusing the driver Steve, but as I mentioned before, a double decker will usually have a height notice in the driver’s compartment, e.g., if it says “this bus is 4.4 metres high”, and there’s a sign just before the bridge, saying this bridge has a clearance of 4.1 metres, then you don’t proceed.
I’m guessing that a lot of drivers either just don’t look at any height notice in their cab, or see the bridge, and nonchalantly think, “meh, I can get under that.”

Arent the heights shown in feet? is the cab sign in metres?
Reminds me of those 'Drive on the Left' signs at Croughton American Air base. Theyve placed them on the left side of the road, What's the point of that?

Metric or standard, feet or metres, if the driver ignores the notice in the cab, all bets are off.

[henrycrun]

Sorry if it was discussed earlier, but why aren't the hot spot bridges fitted with inexpensive floppy warning boards either side to be struck first ?

Edited by henrycrun on Monday 9th November 22:02

[Frank7]

henrycrun said:

Sorry if it was discussed earlier, but why aren't the hot spot bridges fitted with floppy warning boards either side to be struck first ?

Probably because that’s too sensible, and even then there’ll probably be a lot of truckers who believe that the floppy boards are purposely set too low, so they’ll ignore them if their truck makes contact.

[Gareth1974]

Frank7 said:

henrycrun said:

Sorry if it was discussed earlier, but why aren't the hot spot bridges fitted with floppy warning boards either side to be struck first ?

Probably because that’s too sensible, and even then there’ll probably be a lot of truckers who believe that the floppy boards are purposely set too low, so they’ll ignore them if their truck makes contact.

The number one bridge at Hinckley has protective beams each side, plus an sign which illuminates when an overheight vehicle approaches.

[dudleybloke]

And Bromford Road isnt in Dudley, its pretty much on the Oldbury/West Bromwich border.

[eldar]

Gareth1974 said:

The number one bridge at Hinckley has protective beams each side, plus an sign which illuminates when an overheight vehicle approaches.

True. That probably avoids the majority of hits, judging by the number of trucks doing 1.2 million point turns and other entertaining manoeuvres.

[RyanOPlasty]

eldar said:

Gareth1974 said:

The number one bridge at Hinckley has protective beams each side, plus an sign which illuminates when an overheight vehicle approaches.

True. That probably avoids the majority of hits, judging by the number of trucks doing 1.2 million point turns and other entertaining manoeuvres.

It would do if the signs were properly maintained. A recent FOI revealed a fault on the A5 bridge signs that had been known for over 18 months that had not been fixed.

[shouldbworking]

Local bridge was struck 4 years ago here after the council raised the road surface during resurfacing work. It's still not been repaired and the council are totally indifferent. Very frustrating

[eldar]

RyanOPlasty said:

It would do if the signs were properly maintained. A recent FOI revealed a fault on the A5 bridge signs that had been known for over 18 months that had not been fixed.

The only reference i can find for that is the height warning is 4.6 meters, and the actual clearance is 4.683 metres, a safety margin of 83mm.

Do you know of another?

Failing safe, surely.

Seems the drivers fail to spot the number on the big sticker on the dashboard is smaller than the number on the signs.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

eldar said:

Seems the drivers fail to spot the number on the big sticker on the dashboard is smaller than the number on the signs.

There won't be a big sticker on the dashboard telling you the overall height of what you are towing, the height will/should be marked on the front of the trailer.

[eldar]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

eldar said:

Seems the drivers fail to spot the number on the big sticker on the dashboard is smaller than the number on the signs.

There won't be a big sticker on the dashboard telling you the overall height of what you are towing, the height will/should be marked on the front of the trailer.

From 1st Oct 1997 a height notice is required in cab for any vehicle or load more than 3 meters high. The figures must be at least 40mm high.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

eldar said:

From 1st Oct 1997 a height notice is required in cab for any vehicle or load more than 3 meters high. The figures must be at least 40mm high.

The height of the tractor unit will be marked in the cab. The height of the trailer will be marked on its headboard.

It is the trailer that 9/10 hits the bridge, not the tractor unit.