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...

[mp3manager]

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

[rs990]

Are there any signs on the approach to the bridge. I think they would be more useful than the sign on the bridge itself.

[TheInternet]

Muddle238 said:

... this bridge has been hit by 11 lorries in 12 months according to the article

I raise you 'Notorious Tulse Hill bridge struck by truck for 17th time in just six months'.

[shake n bake]

Idiots in lorrys failing to see a major obstacle for the vehicle they are driving ahead.
Generic slur about foreign drivers.....

[Mercury00]

I work right next to one and there have been a few double decker buses crashed into it!

[g7jtk]

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.

[NickM450]

mp3manager said:

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Quite right, the caliber of some of the drivers at our place is a total joke as well as the ones out on the roads. I've only been driving for 6-7 years and even I've noticed there seems to be less 'comradery' between drivers out there. Sad state of affairs really

Bum on a seat and get the lorry emptied is all that seems to matter these days, I'm not surprised things like this are happening, same with the recent talk of banning drivers from using SatNavs.

[Turn7]

mp3manager said:

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

You mean "Płacisz orzeszki ziemne, można dostać się małpy."

[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

[silverfoxcc]

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.

I wonder why nobody has worked out a cost of accident ( plus all the others) on a low bridge against a one off, girder placed 100yds before. esp on railway bridges where they have to do an Elfnsafty check befire letting trains across again

[Turn7]

Muddle238 said:

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

At what point does it become the drivers responsibility then ?

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

Just tie a break line over the road a centimetre or so lower than the bridge height a few meters before the actual bridge - if a lorry breaks the line a big sign lights up saying 'Stop you dumb ass'.
I recon could make my painfully obvious solution for £100 and sell it to the council for £350'000.

[mp3manager]

Restricting the height of trailers would be a start but as usual the UK haulage industry are their own worst enemy.
They want bigger and longer trailers.

http://www.commercialmotor.com/news/eu-trailer-hei...

The trailer I pull is 16'2'' and they're truly awful things.

[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.

[TwyRob]

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

Just tie a break line over the road a centimetre or so lower than the bridge height a few meters before the actual bridge - if a lorry breaks the line a big sign lights up saying 'Stop you dumb ass'.
I recon could make my painfully obvious solution for £100 and sell it to the council for £350'000.

There is something akin to this in Reading. A sensor triggers flashing signs to warn overheight vehicles to turn off at the junction before a low railway bridge.

[eldar]

mp3manager said:

Restricting the height of trailers would be a start but as usual the UK haulage industry are their own worst enemy.
They want bigger and longer trailers.

http://www.commercialmotor.com/news/eu-trailer-hei...

The trailer I pull is 16'2'' and they're truly awful things.

That is quite tall! How can a truck drive not know that their trailer is taller than the bridge gap?

[turbotim43]

TwyRob said:

There is something akin to this in Reading. A sensor triggers flashing signs to warn overheight vehicles to turn off at the junction before a low railway bridge.

There is one in Cheshire, there is a sign with the height quite a way from the bridge and it has a flashing warning if the vehicle is too tall, closer to the bridge there is another height sign then just before the bridge there is traffic lights so you can plainly see the bridge (which strangely doesn't seem to have a height sign on it?) and they have still had lorries hit it

[Turn7]

turbotim43 said:

TwyRob said:

There is something akin to this in Reading. A sensor triggers flashing signs to warn overheight vehicles to turn off at the junction before a low railway bridge.

There is one in Cheshire, there is a sign with the height quite a way from the bridge and it has a flashing warning if the vehicle is too tall, closer to the bridge there is another height sign then just before the bridge there is traffic lights so you can plainly see the bridge (which strangely doesn't seem to have a height sign on it?) and they have still had lorries hit it

Theres a bridge just this side of Bicester with all that, still gets Polish agency drivers hitting it....

[Gareth1974]

The bridge in question is on the A5 near Hinckley. I drive under it myself each day commuting to work. The height is also on separate signage approaching the bridge, and on the southern side, there is an illuminated over-height vehicle sign with sensor.

I work in the railway control centre which deals with frequent incidents of lorries driving into it (more often the protective beams each side)!