Hmm, not to be one for policy in other parts of the world, but could it be changed by 3 inches? the structure under the bridge looks like it could be replaced to be at least 3 inches thinner, as it appears most of the impacts on these sites miss by about 2 inches, so grazing the roof rather than slicing it.
e.g. making an economic decision to reduce rather than solve?
Add some teflon sheets while you're at it. Slide on through!
Language issue? Running a red light isn't a language issue.
Not necessarily in this case, but running red lights isn't always the driver's fault. Quite often it's the way the traffic lights are programmed which is to blame. If there are multiple instances where the signal is red for a long time, yet the road is clear and it's safe to pass, drivers will start to pay less attention to red lights. There are plenty of instances where I live of traffic signals remaining red for so long, I could walk there and back several times, which is very frustrating. The worst lights are the ones near where I work, which need an additional left turn signal, as it's often safe to turn left, but not go straight ahead, so the light remains red. It becomes very tempting to just run the red, especially when one is in a hurry (OK, that's a bad excuse I know). The solution is to keep the time on red, when the road is clear, to an absolute minimum.
In this case, a gate before the bridge could be installed, which stops every vehicle and only opens, when it's safe to pass and the vehicle has been scanned to ensure it's not too high. This will not stop some drivers from smashing through it, but it will cut the number of accidents further.
Please explore the google maps and street view of this intersection to see why that can’t work. (Though I’ve explained it in prior replies.)
(Edit: fix typo)
Please explore the google maps and street view of this intersection to see why that can’t sork. (Though I’ve explained it in prior replies.)
Looking around the neighbourhood I'm a bit confused why this overpass is such an issue. There's some imitations on space to take into account, but there's also a lot of room to play with.
What might work is having railway gates instead of the LED sign that's currently there. If the system detects a vehicle that's too high, the gates close and traffic gets diverted to the crossings further down the tracks until the vehicle is gone. Though I don't think getting fancy is the best solution. If you insist on not spending a lot of money, you might consider closing the underpass for motor traffic completely. There are two crossings nearby and the town layout doesn't seem to dictate the use of that road too much.
There can be many factors in these crashes. Many years ago while working my way.through university I drove a truck. During training a story was related about a driver of a regular route who was retiring, and took a trainee along on his route for few trips before his last day. The trainees first solo day came and he nervously started the route. At a low underpass he cautiously proceeded and got the roof peel. It turned out the retiring veteran consistently took the route at speed and the dip compressed the springs enough to get through. For many of the drivers at this bridge it may have been the first unloaded or lightly loaded trip. Others may have rented the same model truck multiple times before and got surprised by new springs or a different tire profile on the most recent truck.
There can be many factors in these crashes. Many years ago while working my way.through university I drove a truck. During training a story was related about a driver of a regular route who was retiring, and took a trainee along on his route for few trips before his last day. The trainees first solo day came and he nervously started the route. At a low underpass he cautiously proceeded and got the roof peel. It turned out the retiring veteran consistently took the route at speed and the dip compressed the springs enough to get through. For many of the drivers at this bridge it may have been the first unloaded or lightly loaded trip. Others may have rented the same model truck multiple times before and got surprised by new springs or a different tire profile on the most recent truck.
I agree. People will take risks and if they get away with it 99.99% of the time, they'll keep doing it. If the light was red, but the road was clear and driver got through, without any near misses, hundreds of times, then they will keep doing it. One day, the authority may realise the timing of the traffic light is incorrect and unduly holding up the traffic, so they reprogram it, to give less red time. Now the same driver runs the red and boom, there's a nasty accident.
Please explore the google maps and street view of this intersection to see why that can’t sork. (Though I’ve explained it in prior replies.)
Looking around the neighbourhood I'm a bit confused why this overpass is such an issue. There's some imitations on space to take into account, but there's also a lot of room to play with.
What might work is having railway gates instead of the LED sign that's currently there. If the system detects a vehicle that's too high, the gates close and traffic gets diverted to the crossings further down the tracks until the vehicle is gone. Though I don't think getting fancy is the best solution. If you insist on not spending a lot of money, you might consider closing the underpass for motor traffic completely. There are two crossings nearby and the town layout doesn't seem to dictate the use of that road too much.
Yes, I see no reason why there can't be a gate before the bridge. It would certainly stand out more than the side and red light. In this case, it might not have made any difference, but it will certainly have prevented other accidents.
It's as if they know. Posted today, an article about the failing infrastructure of the US.
https://hackaday.com/2018/01/11/local-infrastructure-the-devil-is-in-the-details/
I can see your point: if accidents keep happening, then the poorly designed road and bridge are to blame.
I can also see the other side: it's the driver's fault for ignoring the warnings.
I think in this instance, no one has been killed or seriously injured, just damage to property, which the insurance companies paid for. As you say funds are tight, so it makes sense to spend the money in other areas, where there's a far greater risk of serious injury or death.
Every person who hits this bridge is running a red light. They should be taken off the road before they kill someone.
Mr Scram provides an excellent example as to why people hate engineers - because he, personally, is ignorant of any problems, it must mean those problems can't exist.
Every person who hits this bridge is running a red light. They should be taken off the road before they kill someone.
Mr Scram provides an excellent example as to why people hate engineers - because he, personally, is ignorant of any problems, it must mean those problems can't exist.
Nerull, having a bad day?
It's hard to brake rapidly with a truckload of stuff. We could put everyone who runs this red light and hits the bridge into an electric chair.
A bit harsh perhaps, but still not a solution.
It's hard to brake rapidly with a truckload of stuff.
If you run a red light, FIVE seconds after it turned red, because you could not break then you are driving way to fast.
Develop a mobile phone application which will get as input the height (and weight) of the vehicle and the estimated route. The application will then show whether the route is safe for the vehicle. The application may also calculate the route from current navigation data and warn the driver when the route ahead will contain unsafe bridges and obstacles. Just send 5% for me for this idea from your gross income what you will get from this application idea 
I think this is a good idea. The rental companies could require the customer use the app or pay extra if they decline.
It's hard to brake rapidly with a truckload of stuff.
If you run a red light, FIVE seconds after it turned red, because you could not break then you are driving way to fast.
Drive it like you stole it ! That driver left the truck there and fled the scene
The traffic light doesn't immediately turn red if the overheight warning is activated.
All this discussion has triggered an actual idea relative to OPs question. A current max height display unit for the cab of the truck. Might help a little in situations like this. The main market would be the rental companies who would use it to establish liability for the damages.
Would use sonar or other similar sensor to measure chassis to ground distance, which would be added to a programmable chassis to top of truck distance. Probably would need a sensor at each primary axle. The rental company or other vehicle owner would be the one with the password to program the chassis to top distance, which would have appropriate margin added.
A shock sensor would permanently record the current displayed height when an event occurred. This information would aid in recovering damages from the renter.
The whole thing could be tied into the cell phone app mentioned previously which accesses a database of overhead restrictions. This could trigger an additional audio alarm when something bad is predicted by the combination of route, restriction and actual height.
Might make more sense to just put a sign on the bridge that says NO TRUCKS because even if it does fit, the margin is so tight that it's not worth the risk.
Simpler would be for the rental companies to put a sign prominently in the rental vehicles indicating the height of the unloaded vehicle, so the driver is aware of this being a large vehicle with restrictions on routes. Then again, most time the renters probably did not take the full insurance option, as it is a big part of a single day rental price, and often is not shown in the advertising for the prices, and thus they are liable for all accident costs.
From discussion on the comments on the page there is a strong likelihood the rental companies come out ahead, older vehicles hitting the bridge get written off, and the driver has to pay for a replacement vehicle as compensation, unless they took the insurance, which the rental company then use as payment on a new, higher value, rental unit. Newer vehicles will be repaired though, still coming out with a new body on it. As most are generally out of state that hit, or day rentals going through, the locals obviously are well aware of the limitations of the bridge, even though there is a municipal bus route that goes under it the bus is definitely low enough to clear it.
By me there is a double deck tour bus that runs regular, the metro has trimmed the trees to allow clearance, though when they ran the route the other way they did do quit a lot of large branch removal.
Nerull, having a bad day?
It's hard to brake rapidly with a truckload of stuff. We could put everyone who runs this red light and hits the bridge into an electric chair.
A bit harsh perhaps, but still not a solution.
He's just trying to pick a fight. Don't feed the troll.
9 new ones, take a look at the last one...
There must be something up with those lights. There's plenty of green lights in there, but a couple of red lights too. Idiots who ignore the red light? In some cases, many cars are driving through it as if it's not there. I'm not buying that four drivers run a red light in tandem intentionally. There's one or two that obviously do, mind you.
In some cases the overheight sign isn't even on.
Every person who hits this bridge is running a red light. They should be taken off the road before they kill someone.
Mr Scram provides an excellent example as to why people hate engineers - because he, personally, is ignorant of any problems, it must mean those problems can't exist.
It's hard to brake rapidly with a truckload of stuff.
The speed limit there is just 25mph.
It's hard to brake rapidly with a truckload of stuff.
If you run a red light, FIVE seconds after it turned red, because you could not break then you are driving way to fast.
Exactly!!
The traffic light doesn't immediately turn red if the overheight warning is activated.
Obviously not, since it has to give time for traffic to clear the intersection. But the sensors are apparently blocks ahead. It's not as though the sensor is a few feet ahead of the intersection.
Simpler would be for the rental companies to put a sign prominently in the rental vehicles indicating the height of the unloaded vehicle, so the driver is aware of this being a large vehicle with restrictions on routes.
When I've rented panel trucks, they've had the height printed in a few spots. Pretty sure it was on a sticker right on the dashboard somewhere. (It's been a loooong time, so I don't remember exactly.)
Will definitely visit this meme place in short future.
Be sure to visit in a Ryder truck. Document the warnings etc. Install a dash cam and go for it. As far as I know there are no dash cam videos on the crashes. Even get a camera on you as the driver. To avoid criticism go the speed limit. For video effects put a heavy load in the back of the truck so the front will flip up higher. There are so many potential things you could do for the benefit of mankind.
Plus aren't you going to be an electrical railroad designer? If so maybe you could work this in somehow towards your PHd? I do not know if the tracks are electrical. Ah ha - time it so a train is going over the bridge. I have not seen a train. Oh so many things only you could do. Do you have to do a thesis, if so what is it on? Electrical train safety? How about a sensor that stops the train when a truck hits the bridge and you can test it by hitting the bridge in a truck.
You could become a world famous expert on trucks hitting train bridges.
One warning that no one has come up with - audible warning like a train horn ?
Simpler would be for the rental companies to put a sign prominently in the rental vehicles indicating the height of the unloaded vehicle, so the driver is aware of this being a large vehicle with restrictions on routes. Then again, most time the renters probably did not take the full insurance option, as it is a big part of a single day rental price, and often is not shown in the advertising for the prices, and thus they are liable for all accident costs.
From discussion on the comments on the page there is a strong likelihood the rental companies come out ahead, older vehicles hitting the bridge get written off, and the driver has to pay for a replacement vehicle as compensation, unless they took the insurance, which the rental company then use as payment on a new, higher value, rental unit. Newer vehicles will be repaired though, still coming out with a new body on it. As most are generally out of state that hit, or day rentals going through, the locals obviously are well aware of the limitations of the bridge, even though there is a municipal bus route that goes under it the bus is definitely low enough to clear it.
By me there is a double deck tour bus that runs regular, the metro has trimmed the trees to allow clearance, though when they ran the route the other way they did do quit a lot of large branch removal.
I have rented a number of these. They all have prominent height indications posted in a few places around the vehicle. Of course they do tend to get lost in the warnings about what fuel type, speed limits, weight limits, backing restrictions, cancer causing chemicals and the like.
The additional problem with this warning is since it is painted on, it obviously relates to the nominal height of the vehicle design. Nominal height plus some margin whatever they choose it to be. I have no idea how that relates to the actual height of the individual vehicles.
Thinking about this again. In the UK, an HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) licence would needed to drive a vehicle that size (I don't believe this is the only country), so accidents like that happen less frequently. I'm not suggesting the US should take that path of course: the roads are much smaller over here.
In the US we have CDLs for driving commercial vehicles, but as far as I know that's more about the usage of the vehicle than the size. If you want to drive a bus hauling passengers or a truck hauling freight you need a CDL. As far as I know there is no special requirement if you want to drive yourself around in an old bus or rent a big truck for personal use.
In the US we have CDLs for driving commercial vehicles, but as far as I know that's more about the usage of the vehicle than the size. If you want to drive a bus hauling passengers or a truck hauling freight you need a CDL. As far as I know there is no special requirement if you want to drive yourself around in an old bus or rent a big truck for personal use.
It depends on the loaded weight or number of passengers. I believe that a CDL is required for vehicles with a gross weight of 26,001 pounds or more and passenger vehicles when hauling 15 or more passengers.
In the US we have CDLs for driving commercial vehicles, but as far as I know that's more about the usage of the vehicle than the size. If you want to drive a bus hauling passengers or a truck hauling freight you need a CDL. As far as I know there is no special requirement if you want to drive yourself around in an old bus or rent a big truck for personal use.
It depends on the loaded weight or number of passengers. I believe that a CDL is required for vehicles with a gross weight of 26,001 pounds or more and passenger vehicles when hauling 15 or more passengers.
Generally correct. The administration of licenses is handled at the state level, so there are 50 different sets of rules. In the case of commercial licenses they're pretty much the same, with appropriate knowledge tests based on the vehicles driven, since there are overriding federal standards for commercial vehicles and drivers. So most of those rental box trucks in the videos are light enough to not require commercial licenses to drive when those drivers are not engaged in commerce.
The big loophole is when you have NON-commercial vehicles, particularly recreational vehicles. Most states will allow you to drive that 40 foot, 40000 pound, air brake vehicle, while towing a car, with absolutely no extra training whatsoever. Note that this category can include former commercial vehicles like Greyhound buses and Semis!