Bridge Strike

moose · Sep 28, 2012

Bridge Strikes – an open letter to the secretary of transportation.

To: Ray LaHood.

We the professional drivers signed below are calling on the Department of transportation to create a national registry of law overpasses aimed at protecting us from the shortcoming of local jurisdictions.

It is time for the DOT to improve safety on our hwy by holding states accountable for not protecting the motoring public from low overpasses.

To date, there is not one place for local jurisdictions or construction contractors, to notify the public of a change in bridges clearance.
There is no one place for the public to submit a concern.
There is no standard for accident investigators to inform the DOT of a bridge strike.
mapping providers cannot look up a structure clearance.

Low overpasses should be well marked under a federal standard and protected by monitoring & warning devices.
An oversized vehicle approaching a low overpasses, should hit another firm object BEFORE hitting the bridge.
More so a place for a safe U-turn must be provided.

The national registry of low clearance will map places where bridges are hit consistently.
The DOT can then use such data to hold funds from states that do not take the necessary steps for fixing this problem.
To date there is no one place where the public or Gov. can look up repeated offenders.
If the same structure has been hit over and over again, maybe…just maybe, the DRIVERS are not at fault.

Thanks, we – the professionals drivers.

BobWolf · Sep 28, 2012

Im all for it too. Keep in mind the major opponents of this would be the railroads and the inetrmodal companies that put thier freight on trains. We wont discuss the comie lib blue blood yuppies that are always anti truck. For example, thos spring Bockport NY re constructed a section of Main Street tied it up for months, the RAIL bidge has always been less than twelve foot clearence now they totaly replaced the road, drainage, and utilities and still the clearence is less than twelve feet. they completed the work in the spring a truck stil hits this birdge every couple weeks.

usafk9 · Sep 28, 2012

BobWolf said:
Im all for it too. Keep in mind the major opponents of this would be the railroads and the inetrmodal companies that put thier freight on trains. We wont discuss the comie lib blue blood yuppies that are always anti truck. For example, thos spring Bockport NY re constructed a section of Main Street tied it up for months, the RAIL bidge has always been less than twelve foot clearence now they totaly replaced the road, drainage, and utilities and still the clearence is less than twelve feet. they completed the work in the spring a truck stil hits this birdge every couple weeks.

My brother used to work in the Parts Plus store that used to be next to that bridge. Saw many truck strikes there. Do have to say, though, that there are plenty of warning signs now from both 104 & 31.

Moot · Sep 28, 2012

Here's another bridge that gets hit frequently even though it is well marked and now has overhead flashing lights to warn a driver that he is too high. 11foot8 videos

[url]http://www.youtube.com/yovo68
[/URL]

highway star · Sep 29, 2012

It's amazing how many people don't seem to know how tall their trucks are. In addition to better marking and warning for low bridges, we need better signage for truck prohibited roads. It's very frustrating to make a turn and then find out you're on a restricted road.

mjmsprt40 · Sep 29, 2012

Better signage. Better education. There is little excuse for not knowing how high your truck is, if you don't know then measure it.

When I had the Sprinter, it had the super-high top. I was 8.5 at the high-mount brake light, 9' at the tip of the antennae. I might chance a McDonald's drive-through, they're usually 9 feet. Burger King is 8.5 feet, I would park and walk in.

The Chevy I drive now is just a hair shy of 7 feet.

Signage only works if it is up-to-date. A 13.6 sign means diddly nothing if recent paving has reduced the clearance by three inches.

zorry · Sep 29, 2012

New York City.
Have taken a 13'5" truck under a bridge marked 12'2" on a surface street and under 12'6" on I-287.

ATeam · Sep 29, 2012

zorry said:
New York City.
Have taken a 13'5" truck under a bridge marked 13'2" and under 12'6" on I-287.

New York City bridge height signage is a joke and at least some juristications in New York state know it. Diane and I have seen New York bridges marked with a number and the words "Actual Height" on the sign.

It serves no useful purpose to post a false bridge height but, for whatever reason, the officials responsible for that false information seem to think it best to confuse truck drivers and undermine the faith that could otherwise be placed in bridge height signs. Bridge height information is accurate in all other states, as far as I know. Why New York chooses to be different is a mystery to me.

zorry · Sep 29, 2012

My Garmin 465t believes this mis-information and wants to direct me around bridges I fit under.
Until I better educate myself on NYC I will be very selective about returning.

ATeam · Sep 29, 2012

zorry said:
Until I better educate myself on NYC I will be very selective about returning.

For a good educational resource, see: Free New York City Truck Route Map

This is more than a map. It includes important information that can be used for route planning and avoiding violations. You can be a buddy by ordering a dozen of these maps and handing them out to those who who are willing to take the risks.

Since signing on with Landstar Express America over a year ago, Diane and I have been offered loads into or out of New York City (the five boroughs) very few times, all of which we declined. When we were with FedEx Custom Critical, we were offered many such loads and were sometimes pressured by dispatch to take them (on threat of being removed from the art team or having our White Glove status pulled). More than once, I advised higher-ups at FedEx about this very good truck route map and urged that it be included as a handout in orientation classes and other training events. It's a FREE map but the company that sends trucks into NYC all the time seemed unable to do even this.

I make the suggestion again, this time to any expedite carrier that sends trucks into NYC. Order this excellent document in quantity and share it with your contractors.

zorry · Sep 29, 2012

Thanks for the tip. I will definetly order a few.

Humble2drive · Sep 29, 2012

ATeam said:
. . . When we were with FedEx Custom Critical, we were offered many such loads and were sometimes pressured by dispatch to take them (on threat of being removed from the art team or having our White Glove status pulled). More than once . . .
.

Isn't your truck illegal in NYC without obtaining a day pass?
It would seem like a viable reason to turn down a load.

The maximum allowed length of single unit vehicles, such as boxtrucks, is 35′.

Also, don't forget your crossover mirror:

Starting January 13, 2012, Cross over mirrors must be installed on all trucks that qualify as commercial vehicles.

NYC DOT - Trucks and Commercial Vehicles

zorry · Sep 29, 2012

Crossover mirrors are for Ny registered trucks.

zorry · Sep 29, 2012

Scenerio; unloaded Manhatten at 09:00 and picked up Brooklyn at 23:00.
I chickened out scooted out to the Vince Lombardi. Thought the expense was worth the peace of mind of feeling safer and tag-free.
Would you seasoned veterans have done it differently ? ( 40' 13'5" D)
The idea that as long as I was east of the bridge I may as well bring a load out was quickly proven wrong.

ATeam · Sep 29, 2012

Humble2drive said:
Isn't your truck illegal in NYC without obtaining a day pass?
It would seem like a viable reason to turn down a load.

When we first started with FedEx, we knew our truck and every other 40 foot straight truck FedEx sent into the five boroughs was illegal by virtue of them being over length. We also knew that the law is not enforced by the city and that our carrier was sending trucks in every day. When we questioned this with dispatch, they offered to pay the fines we would get if we ever got a ticket there.

Then CSA came along, in which a citation may involve more than a fine. Also, our discomfort with the city increased, as did our concern about liability. We finally pushed back and discovered that if we told dispatch that our truck is over length and that is the reason for the refusal, they would not charge us with a refusal (that was back when refusal rate meant something). We also learned that (back then at least), no dispatcher has the power to remove you from a team or to pull your White Glove status. The threats that were made were empty threats made by a frustrated dispatcher and, in once case at least, our protests were acted upon by higher-ups and the dispatcher was counseled about his errant deed.

The liability thing still scares us about New York City. Our truck is still 40 feet long and the legal limit is 35 feet, and even less in some parts of the city.

You could be sitting at a red light, legal in all respects except truck length; and then a drunk mother with a revoked driver's license, driving an uninsured car with a lapsed registration, texting on her cell phone could rear end your truck, killing her baby who was in the car but not properly secured in a baby carrier. You would not have a leg to stand on in court, we believe, because you were not supposed to be in the city in the first place. The jury would side with the loving, caring, unnmarried mother who was deprived of the opportunity to see her child grow up and become the President of the United States.

Not wanting to subject ourselves to such risks and put that legal theory to a test, we stay out.

moose · Sep 29, 2012

in New York state they measure & signage bridge height from the side walk, not from the driveway .
that's makes every bridge clearance sign useless for drivers
they do so because of the GIANTS pedestrians walking their streets.
it is important for a 14 foot giant to know the sidewalk clearance, because as we all know homeless giants cannot afford a helmet, nor do they have health insurance.
normally when a giant hit an overpass, it damage the overpass so bad, that the overpass needs to be replaced.

New York also claim that lower clearance needs to be posted, do to the snow accumulated under the overpasses. they say that during winter bridge clearance is reduced.
this is a unique problem for New york state. snow never fall in New Jersey. Connecticut is dry like a whiskey, & Al Gore made it so snow falling in Pennsylvania will be melted as soon as it hit the roadways. beside, in Main they have Moose's clearing the underpasses all winter long. it's slavery !.