Watch out for dodgy bridge signs

[alcam]

I've not watched the video and have no intention of doing so as these things just bore me. But as an ex-truck driver what I can they you is that in the UK any bridge sign MUST display a height at least 3" below the measured height.

Each authority apply their own minimum "clearance" so the actual height for the same bridge could vary greatly, So a 14' bridge in Cheshire could be signed at 13' and in Hampshire it could be 13'6" and Warwickshire it could be 13'9'

Then things get worse there are 39.37" in a metre, but most authorities use 39" for conversion while some use 39.37" some (to be safe) use 36"

So a discrepancy between feet and meters across the road network is inevitable.

But none of this is generally important in a motorhome or van as the number of bridge restrictions effecting these vehicles is minimum and the signs will always be on the safe side.

This becomes an issue with higher vehicles really, to the point that when running high abnormal loads we used to actually run the route in a van and measure the bridges ourselves in areas we hadn't been before (turning around in STGO Cat3 ain't a joke)

Out of interest the worse County for inaccurate bridge heights was Buckinghamshire by a mile.

Railway bridge at Cameron toll in Edinburgh gets hit by trucks about 3 times a year . Height is signposted before the roundabout that precedes the bridge .

 

[Robmac]

Some curved arches have a between arrow bar, cough cough, as seen in the video, jus sayin like.

Touché monsieur Bear!

 

[Pudsey Bear]

yovo68

The 11foo8 bridge is a railroad trestle over Gregson St in Durham, North Carolina and it has earned a reputation for for its rigorous enforcement of the laws of physics. No truck taller than 11 feet and 8 inches will pass under this stubborn piece of infrastructure. Period. On this channel we...

www.youtube.com

 

[Robmac]

Not tweaked at all, honest;

 

[Boris7]

Railway bridge at Cameron toll in Edinburgh gets hit by trucks about 3 times a year . Height is signposted before the roundabout that precedes the bridge .

No amount of signage can make up for pure stupidity.

In our village there’s a massive sign telling high vehicles to stop due to a low bridge, then a sign on the bridge, problem is the warehouse past the bridge has been rented by Amazon and their drivers seem to be blind and stupid.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

On approach to some low bridges, there are gantries with chains set to the bridge height, seem sensible to put them well before any bridge, so high vehicles have an opportunity to turn around or avoid them, if they put them right in front of a bridge, that seems a bit late, and maybe difficult to see, even, due to the number of bridge strikes.

 

[alcam]

Was heading for ferry through backstreets of San Giovanni(?) approaching a lowish bridge . Think sign said 3.2m . Local flagged me down , suggested I take different route . Apparently it was a good bit lower than 3.2

 

[GeoffL]

yovo68

The 11foo8 bridge is a railroad trestle over Gregson St in Durham, North Carolina and it has earned a reputation for for its rigorous enforcement of the laws of physics. No truck taller than 11 feet and 8 inches will pass under this stubborn piece of infrastructure. Period. On this channel we...

www.youtube.com

That bridge is now 12' 4" -- but they've kept the channel name. Meanwhile, in Cornwall, on the old A30, there's a bridge that's probably been hit as many times as the "eleven foot eight", and that's because there wasn't an easy way around. Thankfully, that section has now been dualled and the bridge bypassed for through traffic.

 

[YeoBlade]

What's NOW worrying me is do I remeasure my van with a metric or imperial tape measure,so I can fit under some of lower bridges

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I measured ours and put a Sharpie line across, and jsut wrote both on a card, and it's on the visor. We're 2.92