Well yes and no. It only happens in places where the people designing the roads dropped the ball.
Everywhere I know near me where there is a low overpass (which is avoided at all costs, but sometimes it can happen), there is a physical bar mounted well before the actual overpass. It usually has a sign with something like “If you hit this bar, you are going to hit the bridge”. People don’t read signs, misjudge the height of their load or think there is a safety margin and push through any ways. But crashing into a big wooden bar is enough to make everyone stop and is a hell of a lot cheaper than repairing a big piece of infrastructure like an overpass or bridge. The bar is normally mounted on a couple of chains, so it has some give if the speed is low.
The red lights and “Overheight Must Turn” sign are meant to do that here. There’s not much room before the bridge, so the warning system scans for tall vehicles and tries to tell drivers with lights and an LED sign.
The road is run between some obstacles, and it’s tightly constrained in every direction, by the railway, a sewer trunk, and the other road. Despite the crashes, this may still be the best option, with the next option up to not have the road there at all.
Well yes and no. It only happens in places where the people designing the roads dropped the ball.
Everywhere I know near me where there is a low overpass (which is avoided at all costs, but sometimes it can happen), there is a physical bar mounted well before the actual overpass. It usually has a sign with something like “If you hit this bar, you are going to hit the bridge”. People don’t read signs, misjudge the height of their load or think there is a safety margin and push through any ways. But crashing into a big wooden bar is enough to make everyone stop and is a hell of a lot cheaper than repairing a big piece of infrastructure like an overpass or bridge. The bar is normally mounted on a couple of chains, so it has some give if the speed is low.
The red lights and “Overheight Must Turn” sign are meant to do that here. There’s not much room before the bridge, so the warning system scans for tall vehicles and tries to tell drivers with lights and an LED sign.
The road is run between some obstacles, and it’s tightly constrained in every direction, by the railway, a sewer trunk, and the other road. Despite the crashes, this may still be the best option, with the next option up to not have the road there at all.
It is crashing into a bar here as well. The bar just doesn’t really give