General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums11' foot 8" strikes again!
Even with the new sign idiots still providing us entertainment!
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)...away from sobriety, common sense, decency and wisdom - and toward stupid, unconscious, arrogant, a-holish BRIDGES OF DOOM.
hunter
(38,339 posts)And if you are wealthy it is because God loves you, never because you're an asshole who has abused workers, polluted the environment, cheated suppliers, manipulated markets, bribed government officials, and never paid you're fair share of taxes...
rurallib
(62,471 posts)and blame them for renting them a defective truck.
brush
(53,957 posts)rurallib
(62,471 posts)with their record
brush
(53,957 posts)for damage to the truck.
rurallib
(62,471 posts)When someone said it was an analogy for Republicans running the country, one trick Rpublicans always pull is to blame anyone else after they break programs or claim it was screwed up when they got it.
So when you said I hope they had insurance, I flipped it back to Republicans (in my mind) trying to get insurance on a government they were about to break. But who would insure them given their track record.
It was funny as hell in my mind
malaise
(269,245 posts)Johnathan146
(141 posts)Its a seperate policy that most people do not sign up for.
brush
(53,957 posts)brush
(53,957 posts)A bigger sign perhaps to warn truck drivers. I mean a HUGE sign instead of that little orange thing.
They know it's a problem. I've seen many videos of this happening.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Comes on before the stop light when it detects a truck too high... See it at 27 second in the video. I love how when truck goes through and it just shuts off like, well, I tried
but- people -are -stupid
brush
(53,957 posts)that a driver can't miss would also help.
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,718 posts)How is the driver supposed to navigate it. He just can't make a U Turn on a highway.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)geomon666
(7,512 posts)It's better than sheering the roof of the truck. But, then we wouldn't have videos like this. 11 foot 8 always makes me feel better.
Mariana
(14,861 posts)on a small two lane road. When a truck driver is in a place where he can't turn to avoid the bridge and has to stop, he calls the police and they send out officers to deal with the traffic so he can reverse safely.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
rurallib
(62,471 posts)that are 11' 8". If the truck rattles the chains they are supposed to turn.
Don't know if anyone pays attention.
MADem
(135,425 posts)rurallib
(62,471 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)They've tried a bunch of stuff.
The 11foot8 bridge is invincible.
csziggy
(34,139 posts)But a truck driver ignored it:
Text at YouTube for this video:
In May, the Dept. of Transportation installed a very nice LED blank-out warning sign at the 11foot8 bridge.The new sign is combined with a traffic light that stops traffic when an overheight truck approaches. Yet, when the bridge is hungry, it will eat. Watch as the canopener lures in an unsuspecting moving truck and chews up the roof.
brush
(53,957 posts)to catch the driver's eye with flashing yellow caution lights and "Higher than 11.8 feet must turn" in big letters.
Should be permanent too, not just when the traffic light turns green.
csziggy
(34,139 posts)There used to be a wide sign with flashing lights - but the truck drivers ignored it, too.
brush
(53,957 posts)Haven't visited the site but are most of the crashing trucks rentals?
I think professional truckers have books and probably apps by now that warn them of low bridges all over the country.
csziggy
(34,139 posts)Yes many are rental trucks or travel trailers but not all. I have a certain perverse satisfaction watching travel trailer roof top air conditioning units getting scraped off.
Here is a compilation from 2008 to 2013 of truck crashes under the bridge - lots of unmarked box trucks, quite a few rentals but a broad spectrum of different kinds:
brush
(53,957 posts)That's lost of big impacts over many years and that bridge hasn't budged.
Nac Mac Feegle
(972 posts)I was reading an article about it, and they can't raise the railroad without a MASSIVE amount of cash, and they can't lower the road because of utilities (power, water, communications, gas, etc...) buried underneath it. It's theoretically possible, but it would take a LOT of money.
If they did that, it would deprive a lot of people of a wonderful source of entertainment.
brush
(53,957 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)Well, it's a theory.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)Had the bright idea to go to a KFC drive-thru in Key West.
Took the entire sign down. Key West is a small town, so I knew everyone, and soon everyone knew what I did.
I've never forgotten that lol.
FSogol
(45,571 posts)Last edited Wed Dec 14, 2016, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)
Adsos Letter
(19,459 posts)11 Bravo
(23,928 posts)Buns_of_Fire
(17,208 posts)I think it should have its own reality TV show.
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)briv1016
(1,570 posts)ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)Buckeye_Democrat
(14,858 posts)Like Chris Farley as "Sandman" on SNL:
http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/episode-5-pictured-jimmy-smits-chris-farley-as-sandman-chris-rock-as-picture-id138464785
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)Buckeye_Democrat
(14,858 posts)I can easily imagine Trump doing that if he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
3catwoman3
(24,085 posts)...head up his ass.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,925 posts)do the rental companies make it crystal clear just how high your truck is when you rent it?
I'd like to think I'd get than information and then be hyper aware of height signs as I'm driving, but don't know if I actually would.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)if you scrape the top off
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)Well, we still have the death penalty, so we're lagging in more than one area.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)HassleCat
(6,409 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,925 posts)Really?
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)Thirteen-six is common, and some states allow fourteen.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,925 posts)But the essential point is that anyone driving a truck should be VERY aware of how tall it is, and should be paying a lot of attention to signs telling the clearance of any upcoming bridge.
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)It showed all the low bridges in the country. Drivers could check their routes and plan accordingly. Most drivers now have truck-specific GPS, which shows low bridges, narrow streets, and so on.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,925 posts)I don't use a GPS, even though I know how great they can be. I'm fond of old-fashioned maps myself, in part because I'm a very visual person. Whenever I'm setting off to someplace new I'll look at Google Maps, plot my route, make some notes for myself that might read something like:
Take Hwy 17 to Hwy 45, left on Brown Blvd.
Works for me.
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)"Hey, dumbass! You're off course again!"
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,925 posts)Whenever I'm in a car with GPS giving verbal directions, I've been quite amazed at the patience of the program. You make a wrong turn or overshoot the target, and it will say, "Recalculating . . ." and then a bit later give new directions.
Were I programming those things, I'd give the driver, three, at the most four chances to follow directions, then I'd have the voice say: "If you're going to ignore me, then you're on your own." And then when you turn it back on, it will say, somewhat snottily, "Are you going to listen to me NOW?"
Perhaps it's just as well I'm not in charge of such things.
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)When his wife asked him why, he said, "Honey, yours is the only female voice that's allowed to tell me what to do."
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)It's owned by the railroad, and they're not spending the money to rebuild the bridge.
There's also a sewer main just below the road, so lowering the roadway below the bridge is also too expensive.
Also there's a cross street juuuuust before the bridge, that, yes, is used by big trucks including overheight trucks. Truck drivers with brains make deliveries in the area, and know to turn so they don't become the next victim of the Can Opener.
So they can't rebuild the bridge or lower the road, they can't use "If you hit this sign, you will hit that bridge" signs because they would damage legitimate truck traffic that turns just before the bridge.
I think the water-curtain sign I posted above might be a good idea - the water won't hurt vehicles, the sign could be a great big stop sign, or a "OVERHEIGHT TRUCKS MUST TURN" sign, and legitimate cars can just drive right through it.
3catwoman3
(24,085 posts)..."If you hit this sign" sign?
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)area51
(11,933 posts)ret5hd
(20,542 posts)I see no low clearance bridges there.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)csziggy
(34,139 posts)You can buy crash art - rolled up bits of the trucks that attempted to drive under the bridge. There are T-shirts, warning lights and signs, too.
https://squareup.com/store/11foot8-dot-com/
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Seriously, they should put up a big art piece/billboard on the side of that thing that is like a giant Terry Gilliam-type cartoon head-
Where the bottom of the row of teeth is the side of the bridge.
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)...car drivers, in most cases. Nobody I know expects 'car drivers' to pay attention to things like warning signs.
.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,925 posts)Even if the contract states the height of the truck, someone who normally drives a car, even a large SUV, still isn't driving a truck that is more than 12 feet high.
Personally, I discourage someone who is moving from renting a truck and driving across country. They just have no experience with a large truck, and if they're towing their car behind, then lookout Molly! Personally, I think that hiring a professional moving company is more than worth it.
A few years ago my younger son was moving half way across the country (from the Kansas City area to Portland, OR) and he initially planned to rent a truck and do it himself. I knew that as Mom if I suggested he shouldn't do that, I'd be dismissed. I was VERY happy when he decided to hire a mover.
More recently his older son moved from Kansas City to Springfield, MO, and hired a moving company. We did all the packing, but it was so nice to have others do the heavy lifting. As it turned out, the same guys that loaded the truck in KC unloaded it in Springfield, which meant (among other things) that they knew where things were on the truck. The loading and unloading went extremely well.
I honestly believe that hiring professionals is the best way to go.