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low to stop the hit men

23rd May 1981, Page 23
23rd May 1981
Page 23
Page 23, 23rd May 1981 — low to stop the hit men
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

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NOTE that the reason why high .ehicles are hitting more low 'ridges was the subject of a ecent study published by the -ransport and Road Research aboratory.

Apparently, the aim of the xercise was to discover whether drivers understood fully le traffic signs warning of low 'ridges and whether they knew le height of their vehicles.

It appears that although 95 per ent of drivers believed they new the overall height of their ehicles, only 37 per cent were ccurate to within three inches.

Research involved 497 drivers f "high" lorries, defined as ehicles over three tons unladen which the load or any part of le vehicle was higher than the ab. Drivers' opinionson ways of preventing hitting bridges were aken.

It is a fact that a considerable icrease in the number of bridge trikes has occurred in recent ears.

Reasons for such mishaps are umerous and while it may be ppropriate to quote statistics oncerning drivers' nderstanding of signs, and to numerate several excellent warning" systems, there are a umber of vital matters which ever seem to be fully ppreciated in dealing with and ssessing how bridges are hit.

It must be admitted that there re times when negligence is to

lame, but the trouble seems -painly to relate to the actions of

ther road users. Lane markings nder arched bridges showing le highest point would be of reat help, but would other iotorists understand them and :aye high vehicles the ppropriate space to lanoeuvre?

More pertinently, do local uthorities realise the continual ffects of re-surfacing and how us can affect clearances, particularly on cambered sides?

Continual traffic may in time "wear-down" surfaces to acceptable tolerances, but buildups do occur. One local authority in the Eastern Counties recently acquired new doubledeck buses, only to find that they needed to shave-off four inches from the road surface beneath a railway bridge before they could use it.

In all these things a measure of commonsense must be allowed to prevail, and one hopes that at least the results of the recent TRRL study will point the way to measures which will prevent bridges getting clouted at all.

It needs total co-operation from local authorities, all road users, hauliers' associations and police. And let's not forget the general public are likely to be well briefed in this matter through the Armitage Report, which, I believe, recommends a 4.2m height limit for lorries so that standard 8ft Gin containers could be carried without putting overhead bridges at risk.

NIGEL BREEZE Thorpe Bay Southend, Essex

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