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Most Bridge Strikes in 2019

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Horizon22

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A mildly interesting story here about the bridges that are struck most regularly in the UK. Doesn't seem to state what the overall number is ("about 5 a day"), but it is an 11% decrease.


1. Watling Street, Hinckley, Leicestershire - struck 25 times

2. Bromford Road, Dudley, West Midlands - struck 24 times

3. St John's Street, Lichfield, Staffordshire - struck 23 times

4. Stuntney Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire - struck 19 times

5. Abbey Farm, Thetford, Norfolk - struck 16 times

6. Thurlow Park Road, Tulse Hill, London - struck 14 times

7= Carlisle Road, Cleland, North Lanarkshire - struck 13 times

7= Harlaxton Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire - struck 13 times

7= Stonea Road, Stonea, Cambridgeshire - struck 13 times

10= Coddenham Road, Needham Market, Suffolk - struck 11 times

10= Lower Downs Road, Wimbledon, London - struck 11 times
 
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coupwotcoup

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Just been reading about the rail bridge on the A5 that has been struck 25 times in a year.

Is not beyond the wit of man to create an app that has a GPS connection and will give an
alarm call/bleep to drivers on their phone, say 200 yards before reaching the bridge?

I've no idea as to how much those fortnightly 'crashes' have cost both rail and road industry
but surely something similar to the above has to be a better option?
 

Bald Rick

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Overseas licence plates, left hand drive?

Doesn’t make it a foreign driver, although I agree it would be a reasonable assumption!

Just been reading about the rail bridge on the A5 that has been struck 25 times in a year.

Is not beyond the wit of man to create an app that has a GPS connection and will give an
alarm call/bleep to drivers on their phone, say 200 yards before reaching the bridge?

I've no idea as to how much those fortnightly 'crashes' have cost both rail and road industry
but surely something similar to the above has to be a better option?

That relies on the driver accurately recording the height of their vehicle, and then switching it on.
 

coupwotcoup

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Doesn’t make it a foreign driver, although I agree it would be a reasonable assumption!



That relies on the driver accurately recording the height of their vehicle, and then switching it on.

I was under the impression that it was a legal requirement for drivers to be aware of both their
vehicle's height and width, although I doubt if even one per cent actually do.
 

Horizon22

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No, as that data isn’t collected. And in any event, what counts as ‘foreign?’

I'd be surprised they wouldn't necessarily be collecting number plates? This is of course if the offending vehicle hasn't left the scene.
 

Robertj21a

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I'd be surprised they wouldn't necessarily be collecting number plates? This is of course if the offending vehicle hasn't left the scene.
Registration number won't be much use. Plenty of foreign drivers are employed by British companies and some Brits are employed working for foreign operators.
 

Horizon22

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Registration number won't be much use. Plenty of foreign drivers are employed by British companies and some Brits are employed working for foreign operators.
Not necessarily suggesting that's the purpose it would be used for, just arguing that it makes a lot of sense for both NR and BTP / local police to collect it.
 

Robertj21a

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Not necessarily suggesting that's the purpose it would be used for, just arguing that it makes a lot of sense for both NR and BTP / local police to collect it.
Do you believe that it's not routinely collected?
 

Maltazer

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Just been reading about the rail bridge on the A5 that has been struck 25 times in a year.

Is not beyond the wit of man to create an app that has a GPS connection and will give an
alarm call/bleep to drivers on their phone, say 200 yards before reaching the bridge?

I've no idea as to how much those fortnightly 'crashes' have cost both rail and road industry
but surely something similar to the above has to be a better option?

The bridge in Ely has flashing signs activated by over-height vehicles, and they even built a bypass that takes most traffic on another route - no need to rely on the driver having a special sat nav.

And yet it's still 4th in the list!

People just don't pay attention. They get prosecuted, but that only stops that driver doing it again, not the next one.
 

bspahh

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Network Rail has this on their WWW site on bridge strikes, with the top 20 of most hit bridges
It has links to other documents with more information, such as this PDF

Transport for London have free data on bridge heights within the M25:
 

iainbhx

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The Bromford Rd bridge, btw, is not in Dudley. It's adjacent to Sandwell and Dudley station, but is a good couple of miles inside the Democratic People's Republic of Sandwell, a better description would be Oldbury. There is a Bromford Road in Dudley, but it doesn't have a railway bridge.
 

Bald Rick

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I'd be surprised they wouldn't necessarily be collecting number plates? This is of course if the offending vehicle hasn't left the scene.

I thought that was what @Bald Rick was implying, but on second look I've misread it.

Sorry, yes. Obviously the police collect details on drivers, number plates, etc etc. NR will collect ownership details (and a number plate often helps :) ) to pursue insurers. But NR has no interest in the driver’s nationality, and I don’t see how it is relevant.
 

philthetube

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There are a couple of reasons why it might be relevent.


Left or right hand drive, if there are a higher proportion of left hand drive vehicles involved then maybe signage needs looking at

and if drivers are more familiar with metric maybe that has some bearing.
 

Robertj21a

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No of course, but it might make some interesting statistics.
What would it achieve if it showed 20% were German, French or Polish registered?. It doesn't add anything to the issue - and wherever the vehicle is registered is little indication of the driver's nationality.
 

Wychwood93

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There was an item on this topic on BBC South Today at lunchtime - it will probably be repeated on the 18.30 news. Paul Clifton from the Wilton South bridge - struck 5 times in the past year, despite copious signage. Buses have the bus height in both imperial and metric just above the top of the windscreen - I presume that HGVs have the same.
 

Simon E

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Oops I started another thread on this... if a moderator wants to delete my thread. ill post my story about no 3 on the list on this thread.. I used to work by one the bridges.
 

CrispyUK

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The bridge in Ely has flashing signs activated by over-height vehicles, and they even built a bypass that takes most traffic on another route - no need to rely on the driver having a special sat nav.

And yet it's still 4th in the list!
These are also fitted for the Hinckley, Watling Street bridge which is top of the list. They are located on all 4 approaches to the bridge and positioned before roundabouts that would allow to driver to safely turn around/divert to avoid the bridge route.

Buses have the bus height in both imperial and metric just above the top of the windscreen - I presume that HGVs have the same.
Many of the vehicles involved in bridge bashes are ‘artics’ (articulated lorry, a tractor unit and trailer combination), the height of which will vary depending on the trailer being pulled.

These usually have an adjustable height indicator in the cab, which should be set by the driver when changing trailers.

I know of a driver that hit the Hinckley bridge, it was on his usual daily run, however that day, instead of the usual single deck trailer that cleared the bridge no problem, he was pulling a taller, double decker trailer to carry extra freight. No excuse for a professional driver, but I can see how it could happen in that kind of circumstance.

Oh and he was British, for those in the thread that appear to consider that important!
 
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Trackman

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The bridge in Ely has flashing signs activated by over-height vehicles, and they even built a bypass that takes most traffic on another route - no need to rely on the driver having a special sat nav.

And yet it's still 4th in the list!
Reminds me of the infamous 11foot8 railway bridge in America that has flashing signs.
It’s also got me thinking a British bridge might actually beat its record.
If you haven’t heard of it search 11foot8 in YouTube, I think he has filmed about 160 bridge bashes so far. There is also a website about it.
 

bromleyboy21

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I've often wondered why they don't build a frame - perhaps made of metal and hinged so no one walking by get's hit, a few meters in front of the bridge which is the same size as the bridge.

If the lorry is to big and goes through it the driver would know he'd hit it and stop immediately before hitting the actual bridge?
 

30907

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I've often wondered why they don't build a frame - perhaps made of metal and hinged so no one walking by get's hit, a few meters in front of the bridge which is the same size as the bridge.

If the lorry is to big and goes through it the driver would know he'd hit it and stop immediately before hitting the actual bridge?
Looking at the picture, the Hinckley one has just that.
 

bromleyboy21

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Looking at the picture, the Hinckley one has just that.
Good spot.

My thought was it would be further forward of the bridge to give the driver time to slow before getting to the bridge based on the road speed limit.
 

Bald Rick

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I've often wondered why they don't build a frame - perhaps made of metal and hinged so no one walking by get's hit, a few meters in front of the bridge which is the same size as the bridge.

If the lorry is to big and goes through it the driver would know he'd hit it and stop immediately before hitting the actual bridge?

This comes up every so often. The issues are:

1) who owns, maintains and repairs it
2) who is responsible for keeping a watch on it to know when it has been hit so that it can be repaired
3) what happens in circumstances where there is a junction between the barrier and bridge
4) how can you be sure that an overweight vehiclehitting it doesn’t cause the barrier, or the lorry, to disintegrate and land on a passing vehicle or pedestrian.
 
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