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Looks like one driver didn't get the news about what happens to buses on our river roads
By adamg on Sun, 05/26/2013 - 6:00pm
Ed Hatfield captured the scene yesterday on the entrance to Storrow Drive from the Bowker Overpass:
I would hate to drive in any big city in anything bigger than a sedan. Why doesn't GPS warn these guys? I think this guy was trying a U turn and got stuck. There is a very small cut through just to the left.
At least he didn't plow into an overpass, sending 33 of his passengers to the hospital like the last guy.
Copyright Ed Hatfield. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
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Comments
University of Maryland?
Causing traffic at this on-ramp to travel at the approximate speed of their mascot, the terrapin....
I have a photo of that same
I have a photo of that same bus parked in Kendall Square (2011).
Yeah University of Maryland
Yeah University of Maryland Athletic Bus. I saw it years ago parked in Kendell Square. It does catch your attention.
Freakin' tourists are always
Freakin' tourists are always getting in the way of citizens.
It was his first trip to
It was his first trip to Boston in a big long diesel truck
It was his first trip to Boston he was a havin' lots of luck
He was headed the wrong direction down the one way street in town
And this is what he said when the police chased him down
Give me forty acres and I'll turn this rig around
It's the easiest way that I found
Some guys can turn on a dime or turn it right downtown
But I need forty acres to turn this rig around
When he finally found where to unload he had a dreadful shock
His trailer pointed toward the road and his cab right to the dock
And as he looked around him through his tears he made the sound
Oh give me forty acres and I'll turn this rig around
Give me forty acres...
[ guitar ]
When he finally got unloaded he was glad to leave that town
He was feelin' fairy happy goin' back to Alabam'
And up ahead he saw a sign said you are northward bound
He said give me forty acres and I'll turn this rig around
He was drivin' down the right lane when ahead he saw a sign
He had to make a left turn but he could not get in line
The tears were streamin' down his cheeks and they all heard him yell
Give me forty sticks of dynamite and I'll blow his rig to hell
Give me forty acres...
Commercial Vehicle GPS
They do make GPS systems for commercial vehicles where you can input your vehicles height and other restrictions (hazmat, etc.) and they will calculate you a legal, safe. Naturally they are a little more expensive so some drivers and companies will cheap out and not bother with them (or not use them correctly when they do have them) and pay the price.
$25
Gets you a commercial atlas.
These guys have plenty of time to study it, even dial up street view on their tablets if they have them, before they get back on the road.
Oh brother
I was hoping to see more tortoise and terrapin related news on here but this is not what I had in mind.
"Fear the Turtle"
...written on the back of the bus.
Mind the gap
The gap in the median between east- and westbound is actually several yards back, and even if you pull off that unlikely maneuver, what are you going to do once you get to the other side?
I assume the solution entailed proceeding the wrong way up the Bowker under trooper supervision.
Exit back onto the Bowker, southbound?
It looks to me like if you could somehow execute that backup-and-U-turn, you could then take the Fenway exit back onto the Bowker overpass, avoiding any further low clearance problems.
Yes, actually
I couldn't visualize it, but I think you're right. That first turn's a bear, though...
Couldn't use Memorial Drive
Sunday closings on Mem drive have begun. We just to make things clear for those not from around here with signs telling them to go away!
Memorial Drive would not have been better
The bus would then instead slam into the newly rebuilt Magazine Street footbridge.
Better question
Why don't the signs warn these guys? After all, it's not like this problem never existed before the advent of GPS. And a bus can get through some places a tractor-trailer can't, so stating "LOW CLEARANCE" without indicating the actual clearance doesn't really help.
Answer - you can thank the DCR and their "but it's a parkway, we can't install ugly signs, no matter how useful they might be" mentality.
These signs?
For the bus to reach this point, it would first have to pass under this.
That sign array still doesn't
That sign array still doesn't list the actual clearance. There's only one number these drivers are looking for and DCR isn't giving it to them.
Number is zero
The only relevant number is zero. Nobody needs to ask himself: "Is my truck short enough?" It's a truck. No trucks! 13, 12, 11, 10 feet, doesn't matter. None of the above. Nobody needs to ask "Is my bus short enough." It's a bus. No buses!
CARS ONLY is sufficiently clear. If you are not driving a car, don't go on the road. If you fail, it's on you for being an idiot.
If the Cars Only rubber bumpers
were black on white instead of yellow on black, you might have a point. And if the information was given to drivers BEFORE they were comitted to the ramp (i.e. on the advance signs on the approach streets), that would be even better.
But the legend Cars Only (regardless of color scheme) still doesn't tell the driver the reason for the restriction - low clearance. Perhaps that's why you don't see such signs in the MUTCD or MassDOT standards.
And experience has shown that many drivers, even commercial ones, tend to not pay attention to non-standard signing, especially if the colors are odd (like the rubber signs).
TRUCKS EXIT HERE ->
A sign reading ALL TRUCKS EXIT HERE --> might be helpful here and there. Although, who has time to read signs when busy looking at the GPS screen?
Notice the sign with a truck in a circle and a slash? does not indicate if it is for the left fork or the right fork, or both. Driving a bus full of rowdy kids might add to feeling flustered.
Ah yes
Drivers are NEVER responsible for noticing things like CARS ONLY. Especially if they are professional drivers.
Bullshit.
Or this:
Or this: http://goo.gl/maps/DP0EY
A separate issue illustrated by the original photo: That "no merge area" sign confused me the first time I saw it. My first thought was, "Great, there's no merge -- I get my own lane and don't have to yield."
But the sign is trying to say the opposite -- that there's no acceleration lane, so you need to be ready to stop, unless there happens to be a gap in traffic just when you get three.
And to make things even more confusing, for a about a year it *was* striped so entering traffic got its own lane, and Storrow thru traffic only had one lane. Then they put it back to the original configuration of two thru lanes and no acceleration lane.