Community Forums

clyon51 · 09-08-2013, 09:21 AM

No one should suspect 5er drivers are less vigilant just because of this video

11Foot8 bridge crash compilation - YouTube

TdogKing · 09-08-2013, 06:18 PM

One would think the city would do something more to warn/stop this from happening so much. The bridge isn't designed to take that lateral beating. My neighbor was involved in a accident none of his fault in a Signal Bucket Truck and a Bridge and it broke his neck from the truck hitting the bottom of the bridge in the sudden stop.

clyon51 · 09-09-2013, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TdogKing

One would think the city would do something more to warn/stop this from happening so much. The bridge isn't designed to take that lateral beating. My neighbor was involved in a accident none of his fault in a Signal Bucket Truck and a Bridge and it broke his neck from the truck hitting the bottom of the bridge in the sudden stop.

I didn't think this would get serious. But, RR bridges are built and maintained by the RR. Worked for a RR for almost 40 years. Those lateral impacts are no more severe than hitting it with a snow ball

Any bridge must be clearly maked as to the clearence. In this case, clearly maked as 11 ft 8 inches. To me, anyone who operates a vehicle with a height above your normal passenger car/truck, better know the height of it for this very reason.

What amazed me was all the commercial vehicles that hit it. These guys are trained for this kind of thing. Me thinks they had their head in a dark place.

A good lesson for RVers to measure their rig and be vigilant at bridges which are not on the Interstate. I see a lot of RVers today using GPS that has bridge clearances built in and will warn you of a low one on your route.

wa8yxm · 09-09-2013, 11:24 AM

I have seen many 13 foot trucks v/s 11 foot bridges in my time,,,, You warn them and warn them still they don't seem to get it.. one country has a low bridge with a big "Waterfall" display.. If an oveerheight truck (They have sensors) approaches the water fall comes on and a giant STOP Sign is projected... .Somehow I think the bridge still gets hit from time to time.

True story.. Watched a convertable (I was riding shotgun on a Ford F-350 Custom so I had a good view) as it approched a freeway entrance ramp....closed.... They passed several "Ramp closed ahead" signs.. Finally they stopped at the barricade with the most amazing "When did they close this" look on their face.

Another true story.. Now the word "Flasher" means different things to different people. To the road commission it's that big flashing arrow they put up MOVE OVER.

They had one, battery operated, on S/B Southfield Freeway in Detroit just north of I-96/(Jefferies).

Every day they re-positioned it cause sure as I'm typing someone hit it... Now this is a big bright flashing arrow.

It's battery operated due to it's location.. The crew came out, put in all fresh charged batteries, Re-positioned it.. and one of the 2 man crew hopped over the wall to assist a stranded motorist as the other one got back in the truck.

Fresh batteries, Late evening, after sun down, very bright flashing lights

WHAM!!!! Batteries flying everywhere, The man over the wall ducked as batteries rained down on the freeway around him and of course the truck took a few hits (The man inside was OK).

The highly non-observant driver will NEVER make that mistake again, at least not in this life.. (Fatal accident).

No, some people DRIVE.. Some point and shoot.

topdownman · 09-09-2013, 11:32 AM

This is inaccurate. This incident happened about 6 miles from my house and was very serious. It was caused by a garbage truck striking an underpass, dislodging the rails.

Kentucky Train Derailment | Home | Exponent

On November 19, 1991, an unusual series of events led to a train derailment and bridge collapse in Shepardsville, Kentucky. The insurer for the train company retained Exponent to investigate the causes and circumstances surrounding the incident. Within 36 hours of the accident, an Exponent investigative team arrived in Kentucky to survey the site.

Exponent determined that a garbage truck became stuck under a railroad overpass when the driver decided to take a shortcut. The impact of the truck into the overpass pushed the rails out of alignment. When a train crossed the overpass a few minutes later, the lightest cars on the train derailed.

Just beyond the overpass, the train approached a three-span trestle bridge. Realizing that some of the cars had derailed, the train engineer hit the brakes, which caused the derailed cars to jackknife. As the cars lost control, they slammed into the sides of the trestle bridge. The engineer managed to cross the bridge with a few cars while the rest of the train and the bridge collapsed behind him. Hazardous materials that the train had been transporting were dumped into the river, resulting in the evacuation of about 2000 people.

Quote:

Originally Posted by clyon51

I didn't think this would get serious. But, RR bridges are built and maintained by the RR. Worked for a RR for almost 40 years. Those lateral impacts are no more severe than hitting it with a snow ball

Any bridge must be clearly maked as to the clearence. In this case, clearly maked as 11 ft 8 inches. To me, anyone who operates a vehicle with a height above your normal passenger car/truck, better know the height of it for this very reason.

What amazed me was all the commercial vehicles that hit it. These guys are trained for this kind of thing. Me thinks they had their head in a dark place.

A good lesson for RVers to measure their rig and be vigilant at bridges which are not on the Interstate. I see a lot of RVers today using GPS that has bridge clearances built in and will warn you of a low one on your route.

TdogKing · 09-09-2013, 03:21 PM

What I'm trying to imply is how they are warning people evidently doesn't work to well. Sometimes the the obvious ways of warning just don't work we'll enough and this seems to be the case as the video shows. What if you were following a truck that hit the bridge a debris fell and killed a member of your family , you think this video would show up in your lawsuit case in court ? The Lawyers would prove a history of problems that they choose to ignore. Liability is so out of control in the US . Bridges aren't designed/made for those side impacts RR or not. I'm a Retired Freeway Bridge Supt. but built enough RR bridges too to know their construction . I've witnessed enough wrecks, mistakes , etc by humans in vehicles to write a book about them. I'm just saying sometimes things need something different to catch our attention because we all make mistakes including me.

97cummins · 09-09-2013, 03:48 PM

In my opinion, its the drivers fault. They should know the height of their truck and trailer, or travel trailer.
They should spend the extra little time studying a map of the town their in seeing if there are low bridges they should avoid.
But that's just me.

ka7suz · 09-09-2013, 04:00 PM

And we deduct about 4 inches of the posted clearance, because those signs are not always updated when the road has been resurfaced.

JoAnn

J Birder · 09-09-2013, 04:08 PM

Does anybody know where this particular bridge is?

Joel

TdogKing · 09-09-2013, 06:14 PM

If you "Google" 11' 8"" bridge it brings it all up. Its located in Durham,NC

Dunner · 09-09-2013, 08:37 PM

They could cut down on the accidents by 90% if they just put up a "No White Trucks" sign.

clyon51 · 09-09-2013, 08:52 PM

This is far from from the only bridge in the US where this is common. There is one where there are also videos in central Ohio, the city name escapes me right now. I'm thinking along Ohio Route 666.

Our RR had a low bridge over US 23 in Wavery, Ohio. I witnessed a semi pulling a flatbed with a 100 ton crane hit the bridge @ 40mph with the crane head. It knocked the crane right off the trailer. As the superintendent of transportation, I had the bridge gang inspect the bridge, there was a dent in the huge facing I beam, but no other damage. This bridge was built in the mid 20's. I guess what I'm saying is, all bridges are not built the same and I do know from experience certain huge impacts could affect track integrity.

Regardless, the impacts in this video are super soft impacts as they are only peeling off aluminum and AC units. Hense my reference to snow balls.