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How would you use electronics to solve the 11' 8" bridge problem
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rrinker:
 There is ZERO cause for any of those crashes besides drivers being idiots. Notice most of them are small box trucks - those are almost ALL rentals, and I'd be willing to bed more than half of them are just everyday idiots trying to move themselves to a new house and they think they are still just tooling around in their car. And there are the other part time large vehicle drivers, those motor homes and travel trailers that wipe out rooftop accessories.

Three blocks worth of warnings plus an automatic red light - seriously, ANYONE driving through a red light like this one did, there is NOTHING you can do to not make that person a hazard on the road. If they don't hit this bridge, then they'll hit someone else, if they just blindly drive through a red light.

There's one near me, not only is the clearance low, the bridge is only 1 lane wide (and the road is two way). There aren't anywhere near this number of accidents there, and there are no electronic measures like they've put up here. A few hundred feet from one end of the bridge is another intersection - nothing special there except signs saying no left (or right) turn for vehicles over a certain height.

Then there are the "pro" drivers who aren't really pros yet - as in not far out of truck driving school. In the US you can tell them, as they most often drive for one of about 3 different carriers (the only places that will hire these inexperienced drivers) plus they ALWAYS follow the GPS. We have some roads that trucks over a certain size are supposed to be banned from. Mainly because the road is hilly and has sharp turns. However, you frequently find a truck there, they ignore all the signs saying they are not to turn left off the main road and do it anyway - because it's a short cut and the GPS wills how it as such. There are no clearance problems, they just block traffic up horribly, plus it was part of adding the additional warehouse space in the neighborhood that they would block trucks from this road and make them access the warehouses via a different route off the main highway. Still -  there goes a truck that shouldn't be on this road. And another... the MAJORITY go around the way they are supposed to, you have to wonder about the one guy in line who sees 5 other trucks keep going while he's turning onto the road he isn't supposed to be on.
tooki:
By the way, a lot of the suggestions here are actually covered on the 11foot8 FAQ: http://11foot8.com/faq/




--- Quote from: nctnico on January 08, 2018, 05:55:34 pm ---
--- Quote from: drussell on January 07, 2018, 09:54:15 pm ---
--- Quote from: Gyro on January 07, 2018, 09:41:40 pm ---- The signage is confusing. The driver  is probably still trying to understand the grammar of "OVERHEIGHT MUST TURN" when he hits the bridge.

- The actual height limit sign is small in comparison to the above one, the driver probably doesn't even notice it while trying to decode the other one. If you asked him, he probably wouldn't have even registered the figures.
--- End quote ---

That is only the last set of warnings.  There are signs for blocks before that to warn of the impending trouble.  One set even has the detector on it and flashes warning lights on the signs (even well before that last intersection intersection) that basically say "YOU ARE OVERHEIGHT!  YOU MUST TURN!"

People still smash into the bridge going through the red light.  :palm:

--- End quote ---
It is a typical case of providing too much information so the message gets completely lost.

--- End quote ---
Though that phenomenon can be real, it’s not the case here: it significantly reduced the number of crashes. So clearly many of the affected drivers are seeing the warning and taking appropriate action.

Besides, this guy ran a red light. You don’t need a message to know that means “stop”, regardless of why!





tooki:

--- Quote from: Mr. Scram on January 08, 2018, 06:00:41 pm ---Maybe it'd be interesting to find out how many accidents have to happen before this is the case in our respective books? One every month? Every week? Every day? Are deaths maybe required and if so, how many? Or is there some monetary threshold?

--- End quote ---
Give it a rest, dude. Nobody’s biting.

FYI, it seems to be about one such crash per month. Very few injuries, no deaths AFAIK. It’s not this hellish deathtrap you seem to have twisted it into in your mind! (Heck, I think the real worry was about damage to the railroad bridge, since any damage to the tracks could cause a derailment, which could wreak havoc and cause true death and mayhem.)
james_s:
Just 15 crashes a year could very easily come down to just the people driving trucks who are absorbed in their mobile phone and not looking where they're going. Given the number of people I see on the roads every day who are engaged in just about anything you could imagine besides watching where they're going, I have no problem believing these accidents are almost all negligence and/or incompetence. So many accidents could be prevented if people would simply pay attention and be aware of their surroundings. In the US at least it's too easy to get a driver's license and too easy to keep it even after demonstrating negligent behavior.

I would not even bother with electronic solutions, just paint the side of the bridge with very obvious red and white reflective stripes and keep the traffic signal that turns red for over-height vehicles. Beyond that you can't fix stupid, and given nobody seems to be dying I'm not overly concerned about it. Anyone who does hit it will be stuck with a hefty bill to repair or replace the truck and any damage to the bridge should be their responsibility as well.
mtdoc:

--- Quote from: Falcon69 on January 07, 2018, 09:19:42 pm ---It doesn't matter what is done. There are always the less intelligent of us all, born from a mother and father who are also their  aunt and uncle, that will always do idiotic things like what's going on with that bridge.

You can't stop stupid from doing stupid things.

--- End quote ---

I can't help but think of this guy. I'd like to see him drive his scissor lift under that bridge.  ;D

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