I’ll just leave this here…
And don’t get me started sharing Russian Dash Cam videos.
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Why does the overheight detector not turn the light red?
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Completely agree here. I had a lady back into me a few years ago. She started from at least 30 feet away. I was calmly watching her come at me because, hey, who backs up for 30 feet without checking their rearview?
By the time I realized she was not checking her rearview, I panicked and fumbled with putting my car into reverse.
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I was thinking - just close the road. I mean it looks like it isn’t a main road - traffic circle it for the 3 lanes, and if you need to make it across you just go up or down a block an over.
Or maybe its that hundreds of thousands of cars manage to do it fine. Closing it down for a few people a year isn’t worth it.
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I suspect it’s a matter of externalized costs. The people who pay the cost for the accidents (largely the people who own or insure the trucks) are a completely different group than the people who would be on the hook for paying the cost of increasing the bridge clearance.
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Melbourne, Australia has the Montague St Bridge, Perth has the Bayswater Bridge, and Oklahoma, USA has the Drumright Bridge.
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Dang, he almost made it.
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This question has been answered so many times, on every discussion thread I’ve seen, that I can’t help but think that people who bring these things up are just driving trollies.
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Especially true since most of those truck drivers probably aren’t even locals, since local drivers are presumably pretty familiar with their famous bridge. If the city was to spend money to fix the issue, it would mostly go to benefit people who probably don’t pay local taxes anyway.
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The public is akin to a child repeatedly asking “but why” to an exasperated parent who can’t provide a satisfying answer. “Because I said so, that’s why.”
The state owns the railroad, the local municipality owns the street beneath, and actually solving the problem would cost too much money-- money that could be better spent on addressing other traffic safety concerns. That sort of cost benefit analysis isn’t emotionally satisfying, so the "but why"s will continue.
The state should show its work-- so it could say "Is it worth spending, e.g. 120 million to fix the bridge?
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It does turn the light red, and then it gives a driver who doesn’t run it about 30 seconds or so to reconsider their decision.
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In a somewhat similar situation, I once pulled up behind a truck at a 4-way stop sign. I suddenly realized their reverse lights had come on and fumbled to get into reverse. Fortunately, I had made it to neutral when they bumped into me and they immediately stopped, so I just rolled backward a bit with no real damage.
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If by “a lot” you mean “very little”.
Which would be mean the truck driver should be that much more careful. Why would he assume the area was clear behind him. When he backs up, he was doing so in panic.
I would assume the car was in shock at the stupidity of the truck. The truck was in daytime traffic before impacted the bridge. He should have known there would be traffic still there, backed up behind him, after he impacted the bridge.
By the truck driver. I agree.
The truck driver was 100% negligent in his collision with the car, and I’m sure the police report/insurance assessment reflected that.
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In Flossmoor, IL, there’s a viaduct under the tracks on Vollmer Rd. with an 11’9" clearance. While it isn’t festooned with flashing signs like the Carolina Canopener, it does have plenty of warning in both directions - and it also has battle scars in both directions.
I drove past there one Sunday morning to see a police car and a heavily top-damaged box truck in the little parking area by the electrical substation. Some things never change.
Yep. they’ve had to replace the crash beam at least once since I started watching that channel.
Kinda of remarkable, too, since the crash beam is a very stout slab of steel I-beam.
This bridge in Westwood MA was raised in November from 10’6’ to ~12 feet, and has a big banner on it like a fing going-out-of-business sale, and it only took a month after it was raised for a truck to hit it:
I think I saw somewhere that they’re going to try making the roadbed deeper…
Interesting video of when a lobster truck hit the damn thing:
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I figure they’ll fire him thrice.
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It looks like the driver actually hesitated, then proceeded anyway.
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** rewatches video **
Uh, no it doesn’t. The overheight sensor is clearly tripped, because the illuminated sign is flashing, but the light still turns green.
