For those of us who can’t squint hard enough, what does the sign say?
TRACTOR TRAILERS
PROHIBITED
$1000.00 FINE
Tractor Trailers Prohibited. That trailer appears to be one that I see at many construction sites, but I don’t know the purpose. It has very low ground clearance and when unhooked, it sits flat on the ground.
From what I can see, it appears to be a portable water tank, I’m not exactly sure just what they are used for, but around here “Rain for Rent” is a popular company supplying them
Doug
All of the media are using the same image, so it’s hard to get another view.
Notice the bay window caboose in the background…
I would like ot nominate that truck driver for the “DUMB DRIVER OF THE MONTH AWARD”. Flashing lights, gates and signs and he still went around the gates and got clobbered. Choo Choo 1, Dumb Driver 0.
Did he go around the gates, or get high-centered?
Looking at maps/satellite images, there’s a nifty giant overpass a stone’s throw away. That xing, with that hump, does not need to exist anymore.
I agree that he high-centered.
Totally agree on available alternate routes (there’s an overpass to the north a bit, too).
Being what appears to be construction related equipment, I’d opine that the driver was not a regular in the area, probably contracted to deliver whatever it was to a site, thus undoubtedly using GPS. We all know how that often works out.
“Downtown” was mentioned in the news articles. This is probably a busy crossing, so there may some reluctance to close it.
As to drivers not paying attention, despite numerous recent collisions and the resulting news coverage, a LOCAL truck driver managed to hit the Onondaga Lake Parkway bridge the other day (Syracuse, NY). This, too, is a busy road with plenty of warning for anyone paying at least one iota of attention to where they are going.
Maybe the driver was “situationally unaware”? That excuse was used to explain why cops left a cruiser on the tracks a couple of months back, resulting in serious injury. Possibly that driver was similarly afflicted?
It’s hard to pay attention to the road when you’re focused on your GPS…
True! But we’re speculating. Possible that driver has been through there 50 times before without issues, and this is the one time it caught up with him. Like so many people who (for example) drink and drive… they do it 50 times and make it home without incident… and then they’re stopped or involved in an accident.
This appears to be very similar to the type of trailer involved. They have very low ground clearance. It took me quite a bit of googling to find the right type. When a tractor is attached, the front end is raised up.
Bulk Liquid Storage Tanks: Water, Oil & Chemical Containers (pacvan.com)
No question about that.
Just heard that the second truck in a week has hit the railroad bridge on the Onondaga Lake Parkway in Syracuse…
Once more into the “Stupid Zone”…
Note that under the yellow “RR” crossing sign is a sign with a picture of a truck in a red circle with a red line through it. Even if a driver couldn’t read the sign - or couldn’t even read English - I think that’s a pretty universal way of saying “NO TRUCKS”.
You can’t see what you’re not looking at.
Having the sign that shows the high-centering truck may have been better. Since this looks like a water tank to be delivered to a job site the driver may have ignored the no trucks sign thinking he was just going down the road to drop it off and not cutting through.
Lesson learned … maybe
Which was my point earlier. Didn’t know how to get where he was going, so he was likely following his GPS. I think we’ve discussed before that there are truck specific versions of GPS that take this type of thing into consideration. Consumer GPS, not so much.