GWSR Broadway Developments

Hopefully "As seen at Broadway" soon, sounds like what we need. At any rate, it was good to see that money has been spent on something to help, even if we don't know what it is yet!

 

You only have to watch videos like the one below to question the value of height detectors and warning lights...

 

But all the same its got to be cheaper longer term than having bridge strikes, as i see it, if you don't understand " danger low bridge max hight is" then you shouldn't be driving , and if the GWR go for crash beams i'm assuming they can manufacture them in house , and the bridge wont be the thing that gets hit

 

Mildly amusing. Google’s distorted image gives an impression of how the bridge might look after a strike:

 

Still get hit regularly, though

And to others who wonder why high vehicles are on the road, drivers seem to focus on where they are going to, and hope they'll get away with it.

 

It is my understanding that the sign prohibits overheight vehicles so driving one on this road is an offence under the road traffic laws. As such, may I suggest that the railway asks the local roads policing unit to enforce the law (at their expense).

Enforcement could be achieved by the use of Over Height Vehicle Sensors linked both to a warning sign (to help prevent a bridge bash) and an Enforcement Camera (to provide evidence). This installation should be provided and managed by West Mercia Police Safer Roads Partnership. Any over height Vehicle would trip the sensor, the camera would be activated and a fixed penalty notice would be issued automatically by the Camera Ticket Office. Also, an accelometer could be fixed to the bridge structure and also linked to the Enforcement Camera. A vehicle striking the bridge would activate the sensor and a second photograph would give evidence of the vehicle striking the bridge and hence helping any damages claim.

The sensor on the bridge could also be linked to the signaling system to stop all trains in the section until any bridge bash is investigated and the bridge proved safe.

I understand that to get the Safer Roads Partnership to act, the railway would need to ask the local council to contact them.

The costs of the installation of the Overheight Vehicle Sensor and Enforcement Camera set up would come from the money they collect from the fines generated by all their other Enforcement Cameras. After all they always say that the money they make is ploughed back into making safer roads, so let them prove it.

A look at the West Mercia Police Safer Roads Partnership web site shows where all their Enforcement Cameras are. There are many Speed Cameras and only one Red Light Enforcement Camera. They do not appear to have any Overheight Vehicle Enforcement Cameras, does anyone know of any in the U.K.?

For further reading please see: ukroads.org/webfiles/tr2515a.pdf. This gives document: TR2515 Performance Specifications for Equipment to Detect High & Overheight Vehicles at Low Structures.

 

So the trick is, if you're going to risk a bridge strike, do it at a respectable speed and at least you'll come out the other side - better than being stuck underneath which could result in some embarrassment!

 

Apparently not. Yet, anyway.
Coeval UK seem to be the market leaders with overheight vehicle detection technology, but this only goes as far as LED warning signs. Catching and punishing the miscreants still seems to be a job for the future.

 

It should be a quite simple task to link an overheight vehicle detection system to an Enforcement Camera, it probably just needs an order from the Safer Roads Partnership.

I note that Siemens Mobility, Traffic Solutions have supplied an overweight vehicle detection system, including enforcement cameras, to Oxfordshire.

 

Does this sort of thing ever get used in the UK?

 

I didn't watch by any means all of it and there were FOUR different trucks from the same company that tried - and failed - to get under!

Steven

 

I think you will find that Penske are a truck rental company.

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk

 

Yes,

Sowter Road, Derby. Not sure if the link below will work...


https://goo.gl/maps/irETeJWGz4C2

There used to be a Kennings Van Hire depot close by, and more than one of their Luton bodied vans came to grief under that bridge straight after being picked up.

 

Thanks @Roger Thompson - a sort of link I think between the above 2 posts!

Steven

 

All the job of your insurance company / broker. You don't do all that yourself if you have a car accident, do you ?
And of course there may be a cost by way of increased premiums but surely this is a lot cheaper than paying for major repairs yourselves ?
There's no point in being miserly about insurance cover if you're going to keep getting caught with damage costs.

Anyway, as several has commented here, if you can't increase the height between bridge and road, and you're not going to cure the inattentive lorry drivers, then the only other option seems to be sacrificial bars, which will at least be cheaper to repair than the bridge itself and not cause disruption to the rail services.

 

Yes. The approach to the Blackwall Tunnel is a good example:

 

I did watch it all and judging by how high the front wheels of some of the tractors unit lifted of the ground when the trailer hit the bridge they must have been traveling quite fast. I'm not sure about embarrassment, but those motor home owners are going to have some serious inconvenience next time it rains because their bridge strike ripped the skylights off.

 

All this talk of insurance - you can't sensibly insure against something which happens consistently and frequently! Say a bridge strike occurs once per year, the insurance company will very quickly start charging an annual premium of more than the cost of the repairs! Insurance is based on statistics and the probability of an event occurring, its purpose is to cover the cost of an event which statistically doesn't happen very frequently. The insurance company's purpose is to make a profit, after all!

I agree that sacrificial bars look to be the way ahead here.

 

We had a visit at Broadway on Wednesday by Tim Bright, News and Features writer for Steam Railway Magazine. I understand that it is expected that his article will appear in the March edition of the magazine. I'm sure he would have been impressed with what he saw.

Jo mentioned the speed limit being 30 mph where the bridge is, however, from the roundabout by Pennylands Bank, the speed limit down this quite steep road towards Broadway is 40 mph, and only reduces to 30 mph about 100 yards from the Bridge, so the combination of the steep hill and higher speed limit before the bridge means a lot of traffic is travelling much faster than the official speed limit.

 

Giant air bags coupled to a proximity detonator...