Warning system to stop bridge crashes
Thursday 30th September 2010, 11:30AM BST.
A £52,000 warning system is to be installed on a blackspot bridge in the Black Country after more than 20 lorries crashed into it in five years.
High vehicles have repeatedly smashed into the 13ft-high tram bridge in Great Bridge Road, Tipton, despite signs warning drivers it is low. Sandwell Council and transport authority
Centro have now joined forces to buy a warning system to alert drivers, which is set to be installed next year. It involves an electronic beam linked to a flashing warning sign.
Centro spokesman Steve Swingler said today: “A beam will go across the road in advance of the bridge and when a vehicle breaks that beam because of its height, an electronic warning sign will flash up telling the driver that their vehicle is too high to pass under.
“Centro and Sandwell Council have each put £26,000 towards this project, which is about improving the safety of the road.
“We are now in the process of ordering and buying the system, which will be installed next year.”
Several lorries have toppled over after crashing into the bridge, blocking the road for drivers and also causing delays to the Midland Metro which passes overhead.
The accidents cause chaos for motorists as busy Great Bridge Road links Tipton with Bilston.
Since December last year, there have been two incidents of lorries hitting the top of the bridge, one of which saw a lorry tip on to its side and spill 10 litres of engine oil across the road.
Sandwell Council’s safer neighbourhoods boss Councillor Derek Rowley said it was vital something was done to solve the problem.
He said: “The bridge is the responsibility of Centro.
“However, we have a joint initiative with them to install new overhead monitors that, when a vehicle breaks the beam, a sign will light up to alert drivers of the height of the bridge. It is hoped it will be installed by early next year.”
Councillor Rowley said the work would improve things for motorists, tram users and residents in Great Bridge Road who often end up blocked in by accidents.
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“A £52,000 warning system is to be installed on a blackspot bridge in the Black Country after more than 20 lorries crashed into it in five years” !!!!!
how can they justify this price? A 6th form student could design a suitable system for at a guess £4000.
I have worked in the chemical industry for years and the use of these laser beam detectors is common in most product handling systems.
A laser beam is simply a “Light Amplification” by “Stimulated Emission of Radiation” (LASER or laser) is a mechanism for emitting electromagnetic radiation,that can travel a substantial distance unlike a normal beam of light.
You simply shine a laser at a reflector and when reflector doesn’t receive the beam of light i.e. because it is broken by a lorry driving through it, you make it set off a warning device, its not hard, a LASER pen can be bought in spain for about a £1, a cycle reflector is about 50p.
Is it any wonder out council tax is so high??
Jim of bearwood.
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Do you ever stop moaning Jim? You never have praise for anything. Sounds like a sensible step to me.
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Jim,
I read this post with a mixture of mirth and annoyance. I work in the transport and highway industry and come across people daily who think because they drive or use the roads they are somehow deemed experts on all things to do with the roads…
You forgot some fundemental design points with your £1:50 option. I presume you intend to hold the pen up in the air above bus and car height with a series of broom handles taped together, say 6 at 3 feet each, to be sure, say £1:99 each from Wilkinson’s. Then there is obviously gaffa tape to hold it together at £4:95 a roll (for the good stuff that will stay sticky in the rain). Then as the laser has to be on all day will probably need new batteries every week say £5:00 for decent ones. Then need to fix post into ground so need to dig and fill in hole with presumably drive repair from BandQ…..etc.
Basically you get the point, its about a lot more than just buying some signs, its about specialist equipment that has to work in all weathers, requires installation, calibration, power, maintenance and has to be installed on both approaches mind you.
Perhaps thats whats happened to this country. The last government buying everything they wanted, assuming it cost £1:50 but in reality cost £52,000.
Oh and by the way I believe our council tax pays for bin collecting and police / fire service and highway money comes direct from central not local government council tax.
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why do they need anything Jim? Just pay towards the cost of eye tests and send every driver who has a problem with low bridges and not knowing their vehicles height to spec savers!!!Theres is absolutely no excuse for drivers to hit these bridges at all!!
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Jim
You seem to forget that we are talking about the council – they don’t do simple! Also, a ready made off the shelf product such as what you are talking about would discount any possibility of council bigwigs jetting off to some exotic location somewhere to assess a new fangled system.
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Can anyone explain to me why some dim whitted drivers keep hitting the bridge?? I used to drive and as most drivers will tell you they all know the height restrictions of their lorries and so do bus drivers If they dont then they are incompetanat and a danger on the road not knowing the sizes of what they driving. Its not rocket science to even be able to judge whether you can get under the bridge or not.
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STJOE – It’s not down to incompetence that these idiots keep crashing the bridge. It is purely down to laziness and impatience! Anyone like myself who is a regular user of Great Bridge Road will tell you that the number of crashes is significantly lower than the number of pecker-heads who approach the bridge, only to create a 5-10 minute delay while they have to turn around and to go back to the Wednesbury By-Pass like they should have done in the first place. Their problem with doing this is that it extends their journey by 2 miles or 12 minutes. Aah Bless!
Employing a laser system on the site will be a total waste of £52,000 because they will still try their luck. In my view, there are two ways to stop this situation! 1. CCTV on the bridge both ways. That way, the police can identify either the driver or the company they drive for! 2. Hit both the driver and the company with a massive fine equating to the cost of the repair of the bridge. Three or four accidents later and the preventive costs are met AND maybe the companies will start to think twice before employing one of these donuts! And the CCTV wouldn’t cost anywhere near the £52,000 Sandwell Council are wasting!
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Jim,
I am sure a 6th form student could easily design a system as you have stated.
Would the system be able to withstand the elements and by tested to ensure it works at all times, would the student also be able to close the road, conduct a survey to check for existing services prior to excavating, connect to a suitable power supply, install the system whilst adhering to H&S regulations, reinstate as per ……
I think you need to see the bigger picture when looking at costs.
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Tony said “Do you ever stop moaning Jim? You never have praise for anything. Sounds like a sensible step to me”
I didn’t know you paid my council tax Tony, of course there could be another explanation, you didn’t have a son that walked on water did you?
Marty of Coven
I am sure a 6th form student could easily design a system as you have stated.
“Would the system be able to withstand the elements and be tested to ensure it works at all times?”
It’s not hard to get round those problems, you have two lasers when one stops working the other carries on as normal, it also sends a warning back to a base saying there gas been a malfunction in the system, we have had a camera on the front of our house for about that last 10 or 15 years it works perfectly in all weathers, modern cars have some of the most advanced equipment fitted to them and they operate under horrendous conditions for years.
I remember years ago we had an Electro Plating plant that was being run by a Sinclair Computer,
A simple basic home computer has the power to run everything electrical in a house, a first year student could read a plan of how pipes and cables were laid along a road.
Health and Safety? The biggest farce in the history of the UK, it doesn’t exist!!!!! Well yes it does but not for protecting the workers in the UK, you try reporting your employer to the HSE Executive, you can be sacked!!!!!
The worker has an absolute duty to abide by the Health and Safety at work act, or they can be sacked.
The Employer? They have to abide by Health and Safety at work act as far as reasonably possible / practicable /necessary, so when the HSE come round and complain about the dangers in the workplace they just say “ sorry it isn’t practicable to ensure my workers are safe because of the cost involved.
Jim of Bearwood
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Maybe the council could just employ you to stand underneath the bridge and wave at the lorries instead?
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