Bromley North Line Suspended After Severe Bridge Strike

[Edsmith]

The specific circumstances I quoted would all involve a driver seeing a prohibition sign and ignoring it - ultimately the buck stops with them for making that decision. The others may well mean it's not their fault.

With SPADs it's not always that simple so it makes sense to not speculate.

In most cases it comes down to human error, road or rail.

 

[Deepgreen]

Bridge could be signed incorrectly. Lorry could be signed incorrectly.
Load load could have become unsecured.
Lorry load could have been unsecured by vandals at traffic lights.
Bridge signage could be unclear.
Bridge signage might not be visible on approach, either through bend of foliage encroachment.
Bridge sign may be damaged/vandalised.
Fault on load causing it to rise.
Load incorrectly loaded.
Banksman directing lorry made bad judgement.
Driver given incorrect instructions.
SatNav programed Bridge height incorrectly.
SatNav programmed lorry height incorrectly.
Incorrect road signage other than Bridge height signs.
Diversion route incorrectly set.

This isn't an exhaustive list, of course. And not all may apply in this case, but clearly it is as simply wrong to blame a lorry driver straight away, as it is a train driver.
As the barrier incident at Wedgwood shows, it's not always clear cut. But some people would rather blame the lorry driver straight away rather than wait for the facts.

Many of the above do not exonerate the driver of the vehicle. I think it is a far more reasonable expectation that road drivers are at fault with bridge strikes than rail drivers with safety incidents, simply because there are so many protection systems at work on the railway to negate bad drivers' decisions or actions. That is not to say that bridge strikes are always the driver's fault but I'll bet it is a very, very high percentage.

 

[yorkie]

And maybe the lorry driver is totally to blame, but till we KNOW I say we should not be blaming anyone based solely on our own agendas.

If anyone has a problem with a post and thinks someone shouldn't be saying something, don't reply and instead report it.

Otherwise, you are welcome to disagree with someone, but have no right to decide what others can or cannot say.

I keep saying, but it keeps getting overlooked, it's really not that simple for a lorry driver either. Anyone who says it is, really has no understanding at all about driving. ....

@RJ has experience of driving large vehicles (and more) and anything he says on this subject, I will take notice of.

In most cases it comes down to human error, road or rail.

Yes but errors on the part of drivers of road Vs rail vehicles are of a completely different scale to each other; differences in the level of training and knowledge required and the standards that need to be met are absolutely massive.

 

[plugwash]

I found a news article on the reopening at https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/...eopen-lorry-hits-bromley-bridge/?fr=operanews

A rail line serving Bromley North reopened this morning after a lorry crashed into a bridge yesterday.

Repairs were carried out into the night, after a lorry transporting a crane knocked clear the rail bridge’s girder and entire parapet, making it unsafe to carry trains, at around 3pm on New Street Hill.

The “dramatic bridge strike” also made it unsafe for traffic to pass beneath, blocking access to part of the Sunbridge Park area.

From the fact that both rail and road reopened, and looking at the picture in the new article I would guess that the beam we saw smashed in the initial news articles was mostly holding up the parapet wall rather than the bridge span proper.

 

[Deafdoggie]

@RJ has experience of driving large vehicles (and more) and anything he says on this subject, I will take notice of.

As, indeed, have I. Sadly I had a heart attack and quintuple bypass after which the DVLA decided I could no longer drive anything larger than a car. In all those preceeding years I'd never had an accident, and only once faced a bridge that was lower than me! That was only because there was a road closure and the Police diverted me down the road with the low bridge!
I was kept on, after the DVLA removed my licence entitlements, as a banksman for which you have full responsibility for the vehicle as you are, in effect, the drivers eyes and they simply follow your directions. Again, no accidents on my watch. But when I had a week off, there were two!
I'm now a CPC trainer for lorry, bus and coach drivers and a car driving instructor.

 

[talltim]

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[swt_passenger]

I found a news article on the reopening at https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/...eopen-lorry-hits-bromley-bridge/?fr=operanews

From the fact that both rail and road reopened, and looking at the picture in the new article I would guess that the beam we saw smashed in the initial news articles was mostly holding up the parapet wall rather than the bridge span proper.

Looking at what ended up on the ground, I wonder how well the brickwork was even fastened to the girder. Looks to me as if a good gust of wind could have blown it over.

Serious question really, just how do you securely bond a brick wall to a girder as shown in the “before” images on Streetview?