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ellendune
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« Reply #300 on: September 10, 2020, 13:11:59 » |
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #301 on: September 10, 2020, 13:17:50 » |
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Without wishing to speculate, I guess bus drivers are fallible in the same way train drivers are when they have a stop short, in so much as they 'forget' how long their train is? A bus driver could be mistakenly thinking their bus is a single decker - it only takes a few seconds.
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To view my GWML▸ Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/ |
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grahame
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« Reply #302 on: September 10, 2020, 13:28:25 » |
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Without wishing to speculate, I guess bus drivers are fallible in the same way train drivers are when they have a stop short, in so much as they 'forget' how long their train is? A bus driver could be mistakenly thinking their bus is a single decker - it only takes a few seconds.
We have a number of double deck buses appearing on routes that are normally single deck in our area, and indeed a new school route D1X which is specially differed from the D1 to allow double decks on the Bath - Bradford-on-Avon - Trowbridge route which id normally limited because of the low bridge at Limpley Stoke. I suspect that the risk of these things happening is higher at the moment with all the changes going on at short notice. |
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Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
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stuving
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« Reply #303 on: September 10, 2020, 13:35:20 » |
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The latest Streetview, June 2019, shows the height warning sign is missing from one end of the bridge. I don't know whether the bus was approaching from that side. Even without that warning sign, it seems astonishing to think a double decker could fit under there. https://goo.gl/maps/oSarBdKBs78ZWrkU7The bus came from the other, eastern, side, where there is a height sign on the face of the bridge. There's a road narrows sign with "oncoming vehicles in middle of road" just before the bridge, and the bridge makes seeing those oncoming vehicles hard, so you'd not be unaware of it. There's also an advanced height limit warning sign that the bus must have passed, as well as one on the western approach, though neither is well positioned. |
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southwest
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« Reply #304 on: September 10, 2020, 17:16:10 » |
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Without wishing to speculate, I guess bus drivers are fallible in the same way train drivers are when they have a stop short, in so much as they 'forget' how long their train is? A bus driver could be mistakenly thinking their bus is a single decker - it only takes a few seconds.
Surely a picture of a double decker or saying the height of the bus somewhere in the drivers vision would be a simple solution to this? |
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GBM
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« Reply #305 on: September 10, 2020, 17:35:32 » |
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Surely a picture of a double decker or saying the height of the bus somewhere in the drivers vision would be a simple solution to this?
Most have a height sticker in the cab |
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Personal opinion only. Writings not representative of any union, collective, management or employer. (Think that absolves me...........)  |
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CyclingSid
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« Reply #307 on: September 11, 2020, 06:54:57 » |
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Most have a height sticker in the cab In the case of Reading Buses it is in millimetres, which might not immediately equate to the signs if you are used to working in Rees-Mog units. |
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #308 on: September 11, 2020, 08:01:17 » |
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Without wishing to speculate, I guess bus drivers are fallible in the same way train drivers are when they have a stop short, in so much as they 'forget' how long their train is? A bus driver could be mistakenly thinking their bus is a single decker - it only takes a few seconds.
Without wishing to speculate, there's fallible, and then there's negligent. |
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Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
Posts: 5450
There are some who call me... Tim
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« Reply #309 on: September 11, 2020, 09:57:11 » |
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The latest Streetview, June 2019, shows the height warning sign is missing from one end of the bridge. I don't know whether the bus was approaching from that side. Even without that warning sign, it seems astonishing to think a double decker could fit under there. https://goo.gl/maps/oSarBdKBs78ZWrkU7The bus came from the other, eastern, side, where there is a height sign on the face of the bridge. There's a road narrows sign with "oncoming vehicles in middle of road" just before the bridge, and the bridge makes seeing those oncoming vehicles hard, so you'd not be unaware of it. There's also an advanced height limit warning sign that the bus must have passed, as well as one on the western approach, though neither is well positioned. Good safety systems accept that humans are fallible and try to remove the factors that lead to mistakes. Bad safety systems look for someone to blame and change nothing. At a bare minimum, signage should be consistent, visible and well-maintained. The continued use of US customary units probably doesn't help. There are 5 bridges strikes every day in the UK▸ . But we know how to design and maintain safe roads. We know how to detect over-height vehicles. It's right to bring bad drivers to book, but if we want to solve this issue we need to focus on prevention rather than scapegoating. |
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Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
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ellendune
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« Reply #310 on: September 11, 2020, 11:51:36 » |
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The continued use of US customary units probably doesn't help.
I really liked that bit - in school and work I have used metric units for over 50 years. In 1980 when I had to translate units for 60 year old site staff it was understandable, 40 years on not so. Even then the office staff were relieved when I finished the project for the new weigh bridge and they no longer had to teach the office juniors about tons, hundredweights (cwt) and quarters! The people who did not learn them at school or at work must be diminishing to a very small number. There are those who still call them Imperial Units, but we have not had an empire for longer than we have been using metric units and the countries that used to be in it don't so far as I am aware still use the old units. The only country that does, so far as I can tell, is the US and so "US customary units" seems to be the best description. |
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GBM
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« Reply #311 on: September 11, 2020, 12:16:42 » |
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Being very old, I was taught 'Imperial Units'. I understood them. When we changed to £p, that was easy. When meat weights changed to kg/g and some measurements changed to m/mm, I still struggle, and prefer the old units. Luddite yes  |
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Personal opinion only. Writings not representative of any union, collective, management or employer. (Think that absolves me...........) |
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ellendune
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« Reply #312 on: September 11, 2020, 13:10:19 » |
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Being very old, I was taught 'Imperial Units'. I understood them. When we changed to £p, that was easy. When meat weights changed to kg/g and some measurements changed to m/mm, I still struggle, and prefer the old units. Luddite yes I am only a couple of years off retirement and I was taught only in metric units at secondary school. I did learn the other units at primary school. Admittedly I have worked in a technical profession for all my career therefore using units on a day to day basis. The UK▸ construction and manufacturing industry officially went metric in 1970 - that's 50 years ago! To have been through school learning only imperial units you would have had to be at least 70 and probably more. Only 15% of the population is over 70 and I am not sure very many of them will be driving buses or HGV's. Yet when local authorities try even to put both units on road signs they have been vilified by some lunatic fringe. On bridge heights it matters - it is a health and safety issue held back by nostalgia. Mercifully for weight limits it doesn't matter - don't tell people but actually they are already in metric tonnes!* *However 1 tonne =0.984207 uk tons (for a civil engineer that means no difference) = 1.10231 us customary tons (now that does make a difference). |
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« Last Edit: September 11, 2020, 13:21:31 by ellendune »
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southwest
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« Reply #313 on: September 11, 2020, 13:28:45 » |
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Surely a picture of a double decker or saying the height of the bus somewhere in the drivers vision would be a simple solution to this?
Most have a height sticker in the cab Yeah I believe it's at the top of the cab, out of the drivers line of vision. Surely having something within the line of vision that doesn't impede their view would solve it. Single Decker icons for Single Deckers, Double for Double deckers. Something that is a quick reference. |
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TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
Posts: 6594
The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!
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« Reply #314 on: September 11, 2020, 13:42:44 » |
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At a bare minimum, signage should be consistent, visible and well-maintained. The continued use of US customary units probably doesn't help.
Many drivers have come to work in the UK▸ from abroad, and our quaint archaic units are a second language to them. I was in the first year at my school to do physics education in metric, and unlike elledunne, I have already retired, so there is no need to confuse our own young people with the so-called Imperial units. They should be the sole preserve of the US , and all the other countries that still use Fahrenheit and inches of quicksilver. (OK, just the US.) |
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Now, please!
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