Reducing the Dangers from Low Bridges.
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T•OW bridges in London have lately been the
direct cause of several regrettable accidents in which double-deck buses have been involved, with the result that the question of the safety of these structures has been brought to the front. There is a large number of bridges in the Metropolis, crossing busy traffic arteries, which have a wide safety margin in the matter of height from ground level, but there are also many in which the clearance is insufficient for a covered-top bus to negotiate, and definitely unsafe for a vehicle having an open top-deck. The ability of a double-saloon bus to pass under any bridge is, naturally, governed by the overall height of the vehicle, which means to say that a person of average height can stand erect and be perfectly safe, but this is not so in the ease of an open-top bus, numbers of which regularly negotiate bridges under which it is extremely dangerous for top-deck passengers to stand.
In certain provincial districts double-saloon buses having their seats disposed in a staggered formation in the centre, so as to obtain the lowest possible height, have been brought into use, but this arrangement results in a loss of seating space and, therefore, of earning capacity. It seems that the only effective solution of the problem is to devise ways and means for increasing the height of these bridges. There are only two methods of achieving this end, and without a doubt the simpler and more practicable is to lower the level of the roadway, which can usually be done without undue interference with the drainage or supply services. The slopes to the centre of a bridge must be gradual so as to avoid any risk of water accumulating in the centre and thus forming a watersplash, but no difficulty should arise in connection with draining the water into the mains. In , several cases where this method has been followed we have observed that the pavements on each side have not been disturbed, only the roadway being sunk, and on the score of reduced cost and amount of dislocation created this would appear to be a good scheme.
The matter is not only of concern to operators and users of buses, but is also of importance to those commercial-motor owners whose vehicles are often called upon to deal with high and awkward loads, and who, by reason of the existence of low bridges on main roads, now have to map out circuitous routes, so as to ensure safe conveyance.