Hook Rd, Epsom - Bridge Strike: Dashcam Footage (21/05/21)

[Mcr Warrior]

No. The road markings mean it’s a two way road for low vehicles.

So how does/should a slightly higher vehicle get through?

 

[swt_passenger]

So how does/should a slightly higher vehicle get through?

Wait for a gap. Wait for an individual driver to notice soon enough to give him room.

Drivers approaching from either side are warned with the relevant advance signs that there may be “over height“ vehicles approaching in the middle of the road, but they are not required to stop short on the off chance one is coming.

 

[Darandio]

So how does/should a slightly higher vehicle get through?

As well as the normal two way road markings there are a second set to guide high vehicles to the centre. High vehicles should wait for the gap.

 

[Snow1964]

So essentially the big van that stuffed into the overbridge (and the Waitrose van) should only have attempted to negotiate its way through the tunnel, if it had a clear run through the middle, where the tunnel clearance is highest?

No the Waitrose van had progressed through the 9’6” 2 way part, and wasn’t attempting to use the high vehicle markings that require both lanes.

Yes, The big truck should have waited until middle was clear as needed to use it.

There is a narrow footpath one side, so the height restriction is different each direction as one carriageway is further from the side, the arch is also skewed so any collision will always meet left hand side first.

 

[GB]

So how does/should a slightly higher vehicle get through?

No different to negotiating parked cars...wait for a suitable gap!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

As well as the normal two way road markings there are a second set to guide high vehicles to the centre. High vehicles should wait for the gap.

Ta. Similar overbridge on the Liverpool -> Manchester railway line along Worsley Road, Winton, near Patricroft station.

Notionally can accommodate two way traffic for normal size vehicles, but the full 16ft 6in height clearance is only possible if vehicles needing the use of same straddle the white lines in the middle of the carriageway.

Either way, the overbridge needs to be negotiated with some care as road is on a slight bend and you can't always see approaching traffic from any distance.

Worsley Road Railway Bridge © David Dixon cc-by-sa/2.0

The Railway bridge at Worsley Road, between Winton and Patricroft.

www.geograph.org.uk

 

[Peter Mugridge]

No, I moved in 2012!

He was talking about me...

About 50 yards further to a give way at a mini roundabout, then another 100 yards to a fairly busy light controlled junction. Yes, traffic could easily be queued back.

Yes, correct - it's more normal than not for traffic to be queued back there, as far back as Longmead Road never mind the railway bridge...

It's a very busy road and its use by large lorries has increased hugely over the last decade or so.

The lorry in question was an articulated bulk tipper on a council contract related to Longmead tip; they are instructed to go this way and there are several such movements daily each way.

There are roundabouts both sides of bridge, obviously if anything is turning right coming opposite way it has priority as already on the roundabout.

It makes you wonder how the truck managed to go so fast, unless he just motored through the roundabout without stopping

The roundabout it has come from leads only to a car park on the right ( as seen from the way the lorry was travelling ) and a very small residential area on the left. There is minimal traffic from either side and what traffic there is can be seen from way back. Most people, unfortunately ( car drivers especially! ) do zoom straight across the roundabout - at least in the direction the lorry was taking; the other direction is usually a queue.

Roundabout number two, the one the lorry would have come across had it made it through the bridge, is a different story altogether and is probably the most abused mini roundabout in the country and the scene of multiple near collisions every day - but that would be a matter for another thread...

 

[norbitonflyer]

Here is an example taking the Portsmouth Road (old A3) under the SWML near Esher.
A307 - Google Maps

 

[thelem]

On that bridge, there are two height restrictions on the bridge itself - the sign in the lead up to it has the larger restriction alone, but the arch indicates the width of the two different headrooms available. (Plus the "HIGH VEHS" road paint road markings).

Here's the streetviews on approach :

View attachment 96974
View attachment 96975

Those road signs are accurate, but are a bit too easy to misread.



There's a lot of information in this sign. The first piece I'd notice is the number: 15' 6". If I'm in a 14' tall vehicle and not paying full attention I might think "that's fine, I'm less than that number so I'll fit under the bridge". Only if I look more closely do I see that arrow indicating that this is the height of the peak of the arch. At this point there isn't enough information to tell me if I'll need to use the middle of the road, or any instruction to do so (just a warning that vehicles coming in the other direction might use the middle of the road).

If I was redesigning this signage, I'd put 13" 0' inside the warning triangle, and have text below reading "Vehicles up to 15' 6" use middle of road". This ties the higher number to the need to move to the middle of the road, and means if you're not paying full attention you only read the lower number.

Of course a professional driver should know these road signs and always be paying attention, but what we should do at work isn't always what we do do at work.

 

[Annetts key]

I have advocated for many years that all rail-over-road bridges in the UK with height limits for road vehicles should be protected on each side by heavy steel gantries across the roadway, as happens in a number of European countries, including Belgium and - I think - the Netherlands. By doing so, overheight trucks, buses, etc. would demolish themselves on the gantry and leave the bridge undamaged.....thus allowing rail traffic to continue running without disruption.

The reason that only a small number of bridges have protection like you describe, is that the railway normally has done a risk assessment. If the bridge is deemed unlikely to be hit regularly and/or the bridge is deemed unlikely to sustain anything other than superficial damage, the cost of providing protection is not considered worthwhile.

Most of the time, bashed bridges suffer no structural damage. The mass of the bridge far outweighing the mass of the type of vehicle that typically hit them.

Further, the railways have complied a list and each rail over road bridge at risk is listed. Along with the criteria required before normal running can resume. Hence most of the time, a train in each direction is used to examine the track alignment, then trains can either return to normal line speed or a defined slow speed can be used (depending on the written criteria). A bridge/structural engineer is called out to examine the bridge. After examination, in most cases they will find no significant damage, and hence give line speed back.

The biggest problem with recovering costs from the offending road vehicle, is that in the majority of cases, the driver has driven away... Often only when their vehicle gets stuck, or suffers enough serious damage is the vehicle still on site when the first railway personnel arrive.

 

[swt_passenger]

Those road signs are accurate, but are a bit too easy to misread.

View attachment 97214

There's a lot of information in this sign. The first piece I'd notice is the number: 15' 6". If I'm in a 14' tall vehicle and not paying full attention I might think "that's fine, I'm less than that number so I'll fit under the bridge". Only if I look more closely do I see that arrow indicating that this is the height of the peak of the arch. At this point there isn't enough information to tell me if I'll need to use the middle of the road, or any instruction to do so (just a warning that vehicles coming in the other direction might use the middle of the road).

If I was redesigning this signage, I'd put 13" 0' inside the warning triangle, and have text below reading "Vehicles up to 15' 6" use middle of road". This ties the higher number to the need to move to the middle of the road, and means if you're not paying full attention you only read the lower number.

Of course a professional driver should know these road signs and always be paying attention, but what we should do at work isn't always what we do do at work.

AIUI the arch bridge sign height is not the peak, it’s the height of a default 3m wide section. The peak height would be useless to any usual shaped vehicle. My earlier post #11 also refers…

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The biggest problem with recovering costs from the offending road vehicle, is that in the majority of cases, the driver has driven away...

No CCTV footage, particularly so at locations with multiple incidents ?

 

[Annetts key]

No CCTV footage, particularly so at locations with multiple incidents ?

Back when Railtrack existed and the contractors that worked for it had some of their staff trained for ‘first response bridge bash’ there wasn’t even a mention of CCTV...

And I haven’t heard of Network Rail using CCTV for this in my area.

 

[hwl]

And I haven’t heard of Network Rail using CCTV for this in my area.

They do in other areas...