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Some truck drivers aren't very bright, are they?

Close call

If students in UHauls can learn to stay off Storrow Drive (well, for the most part), how are we to explain professional drivers with commercial driver's licenses? Such as whoever was behind the wheel of this big rig, which Andrew photographed around 9:50 a.m. stopped just short of the BU Bridge train tracks.

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the "Cars Only" hanging things that are all over Storrow? How could you not notice that..

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Most are practically piles of rush, faded yellow paint, and have the chains removed to denote height.

Seems like it be easy for an our of state, flustered driver who was trying to figure out our nonsensical road system.

I've taken wrong turns before finding myself stuck on the wrong road. Luckily I have a nice small car.

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are mounted with warning signs indicating the clearance restriction. And even where there are Low Clearance signs, they are very inconsistent in placement and message.

Some just say 'LOW CLEARANCE' with no height given, while others state 'LOW CLEARANCE AHEAD' without stating the distance to the clearance hazard (which may mislead drivers into believing there is an exit between the sign and the low clearance).

And then some locations have the typical MDC/DCR non-standard 'van hitting bridge' clearance sign (without the height restriction), which are totally useless.

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Truck drivers apparently regard the signs as some sort of decoration. I once watched a tractor trailer driver slowly drive under one of the hanging "Cars Only" barriers as it slid up his windshield, over the top of the cab and along the trailer. This idiot probably did the same thing.

They really should start impounding their trucks and levying massive fines, with a license suspension, when commercial drivers that pull this nonsense.

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Well, taking a look at a street view at http://g.co/maps/b3y29 , a truck driver coming off the Pike in Allston wouldn't see a single Cars Only or No Trucks sign until after turning onto the ramp.

And while there is a sign on that ramp (http://g.co/maps/6p4bg ), the sign directing trucks not to enter Storror is neon and very hard to read (it used to light up only when a truck set off the height sensor, but now it's always on), and the road it points to looks like it goes only to the hotel. So I could see why a trucker got confused and thought taking Storrow was the only way out.

Getting stuck is its own punishment, even if the truck doesn't hit the bridge and just has to back up. Increased fines won't help.

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Maybe they're not all as clear as this entrance by Berkley and Beacon
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.355359,-71...
I am checking around though and they all look pretty well marked as Cars Only.

Here's the Pike to Storrow just as you showed and it's pretty clear that they can't get on without getting smacked in the face with the Cars Only sign:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.359504,-71...

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tell the trucker they will encounter bridges lower than the height of the truck if they proceed onto the road. That is the critical information they need to know.

Instead of worrying so much about the asthetics of the "parkway", the DCR should be replacing all the undersized, improperly placed, and non-standard signing with oversized "Low Clearance (with height)" and "Commercial Vehicles Prohibited" signs.

And these signs should be placed above the road on rigid beams, not chains, so the errant truck hits the sign on the entrance ramp before they get a chance to reach the low clearance point.

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How can the truck drive under the existing CARS ONLY sign without making a loud noise that should alert the driver to his error?

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However, they are specifically designed to not inflict damage on a vehicle if they are hit (i.e. mounted on chains and made of rubber). Also, they have a "homemade" look with a color scheme (yellow on black) that bears no relationship to any standard prohibition or warning sign that a driver would otherwise encounter on the highway. These factors might explain why most truckers don't take them more seriously.

Now, if you replaced those flexible "Cars Only" rubber panels with large standard design "No Commercial Vehicles" and/or "Low Clearance (with the actual clearance in feet)" signs on a rigid steel beam structure over the entrance ramp, mounted 11 feet (or whatever the lowest clearance beyond a specific entrance ramp is) about the roadway, it's highly unlikely a trucker is going to gamble and try to run under those signs. And they will stop on the ramp, which has less of a traffic impact than stopping short of a structure like the BU Bridge.

As an aside, have you ever ridden in a big rig? I did several years ago (a friend of mine at the time was an independent trucker). It was noisy enough in the cab that I could easily imagine a driver mistaking a rubber sign hitting their vehicle as some other "normal" noise that wouldn't elicit any particular concern.

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"It was noisy enough in the cab that I could easily imagine a driver mistaking a rubber sign hitting their vehicle as some other "normal" noise that wouldn't elicit any particular concern."

Such as what, I'm curious? And don't say "running over a pedestrian or cyclist"

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in his 18 wheeler - Noise and constant movement from the bouncing of the suspension, as well as squeaking and banging noises from the up and down movement of the trailer. Not to mention the general noise of the engine masking other sounds. In other words, noises that a driver would not pay specific attention to after awhile, and would consider "normal" to the operation of the truck.

Now, this was several years ago, and it was an older truck at the time. It could be that the truck makers have since made improvements to their designs that mitigate much of the noise and vibration. However, I doubt that even brand new 18 wheelers have interiors that rival today's passenger cars for quiet and smoothness of ride.

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Is actually the only one properly signed. Yes, it should also be signed on Cambridge Street before the ramp, but it also has a height sign before getting onto storrow, and a exit that loops back around.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&g...

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I don't see any relevant signage in your link. I think this is what you're looking for. It's right around the corner from your link.

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Probably because that right turn leads not just to Soldiers Field Road, but also to the Doubletree hotel and to what looks like a trucking terminal behind the hotel.

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with the Storrow Drive information on the directional sign. Or a supplemental panel reading "Storrow Drive Low Clearance 11 Feet".

But the idea of using large highway signs with standard colors and legends apparently conflicts with the DCR's "vision" of how Storrow and Memorial Drives should look, so it's doubtful you'll see any sort of improvements in the near future.

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Getting stuck is its own punishment, even if the truck doesn't hit the bridge and just has to back up. Increased fines won't help.

The only trouble is that other people are punished as a result of this kind of stupidity on the part of some truck drivers also, if one gets the drift.

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And that's one truck driver that will never trust a GPS again.

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...how did he not HIT one of those signs? They're pretty low-hanging

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Like, GPS packages that note things like turning radii and truck restrictions?

I'd think one could make some bucks on even an add-on package for a standard GPS.

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still use the standard "consumer grade" GPS units instead of the commercial ones because they're cheaper.

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I have had more problems with google sending me over to roads that exist on paper but not reality (and sending people down my street trying to get to Lilly Pond Lane, which is a paper road) and inventing exits and on ramps that don't exist, etc.

I look at the maps and all, but I don't trust it very much - ESPECIALLY in 3 or 4G.

Several times burned (because my husband insisted on it mucking us over more than twice), forever shy.

At least the biking directions claim to be Beta, so I can't be too annoyed that they sent me toward nonexistant roads in Hyannis last weekend.

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You mean you didn't spend a year or two as a long-haul trucker out of Alberta? You don't have first-hand experience as a trucker? You're letting us down!!

I worked for a moving company in the Age Before Ubiquitous GPS and we had an atlas (made out of spiral bound paper product) that would provide info on weight, height and commercial vehicle restrictions. I am assuming in this day and age the info from that road atlas has been digitized and is available in some sort of GPS interface more sophisticated than Google maps, but my trucker experience has been reduced to being nearly run down by the sonsobitches on our nation's interstates and turning tricks in New Jersey Turnpike service plazas (Go Team Walt Whitman!), so I couldn't name a commercially available system.

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The visibility was horrendous this morning. That, combined with faded signage, could combine to have gotten the driver as far as he had already come.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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usually some poor slob from a state that has roads that make sense and tell him (or her) that it's a 5 grand fine if they get caught on either of the drives. I don't know if it's true, but it always works.

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There is a tressle in Durham, NC that has warning signs, flashing lights, and every warning you could want. They have even installed a crash bar to protect the tressle from the impacts, and replaced said crash bar at least once already.

Trucks still hit the thing so often - like monthly - that a nearby business has set up a webcam and a web site, printed calendars, etc.

http://11foot8.com/

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Here's a similar website for an underpass in Paris: 2m40.com

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