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Irish bridges hit by trucks, too
The state grants the trucker a permit for a load that is too tall for at least the outside lane of the bridge and there is no low bridge warning because the threshhold for that warning is one lousy inch less than that bridge height. Since when is this the fault of the trucker?
“The phenomenon of trucks hitting highway overpasses is not uniquely American”, that’s a very strange comment, why would you think that it is “uniquely American”? There are stupid truck drivers the world over.
It’s not just truckers, years ago while working in Northern New Brunswick, I watched as a RV and trailer drove up to an underpass , stopped, got out in traffic and measured the underpass with a tape measure. He was unable to convert metric to inperial measurement.
Wait it gets better, after determining that he could not fit uder the underpass. He informed me that he was unable to back up the RV and trailer. 45 minutes later he reloaded and was down the road.
I think another problem is that when an underpass is repaved,is not measured properly and that may be a problem. As for NYC, especially on Long Island, when the parkways were being built, parks commissioner by the name of Robert Moses, who thought he was the other Moses, had overpasses built so that buses couldn’t bring people from the city, ie. minorities couldn’t go to his beaches that he controlled. But, because of this, trucks couldn’t fit. Alot of out of state trucks weren’t aware of this, so they had their trucks get stuck under these overpasses or sliceing the tops of their trucks causing damages to their trucks, big traffic jams and big fines. So, as you can see, nutty reasons can cause big problems for the overpasses and transportation.
DID iRELAND SEND THEIR DRIVERS TO THE U.S. FOR CDL SCHOOL OR DID THEY HIRE U.S. DRIVERS??? while listening to cb radio on day, a driver asked the exit number for a certain road, because he said he could not read, but knew numbers. did you know that if you take the cdl test and you tell them you cannot read, the test will be given to you orally. that could be the answer to why some warning signs are ignored???
I don’t know about how things are in Ireland, but over here the law varies from state to state. In all states, drivers are required to know the height of their vehicle. And the states or local governments are required to post the clearance under the bridges. However, some screwball states like New York and New Jersey tend to use a measuring stick that has feet and inches in different increments that vary from the national standard inch and foot. Therefore, a truck which is 13’6" will never make it under a 13’4" bridge in Chicago but can easily get under an 11’6" bridge in New York and a 12’4" bridge in New Jersey. Of course, New York and New Jersey are special. Just like every family has that one relative 5 cans short of a 6 pack. This also explains why east coast truck drivers can’t drive in Chicago. They constantly try to squeeze under the L tracks, despite the very accurate warning signs which still remain in place from the Daley years.
It looks like Ireland also has their share of idiot truck driving Guses.
Geoffrey, I think perhaps it implies that Americans don’t have a monopoly on stupidity, which lately seems to be something that could be argued.
Edmund, it is always the drivers fault!! The driver should know his height and if not sure of clearances stop if necessary to check it out. Period. This is coming from a 33 year driver in Chicago with its share of low viaducts.
Some years back I showed the safety director of the trucking company I worked at a picture in Trains of a double stack that had the top sheared off by a bridge. As to Washington state accident I will await the NTSB report. That accident their was a pilot car(lead escort) present. And the escort should have had an overheight indicator.
I had a Winnabago for 13 years and travelled all over the US. I always carried my truckers atlas and guides to help. The trouble is signage is different in states and federal jurisdictions. I’ve been on roads where every bridge height is marked even at clearances of 18 feet. I’ve also been elswhere and seen zero info on any bridges or overpasses. I’ve also seen drivers go right past the flashing lights and warning indicators that they are to high for the overpass and see them slam into it.