Hey, there! Log in / Register

Bob learns Bob-o-pedics don't fit under Storrow bridges

During rush hour on one of the busiest travel days of the year, a driver for Bob's Furniture decided to get on Storrow Drive outbound. It did not end well, at least for all the other drivers behind him. The Bob's guy, at least, did manage to stop before he storrowed his truck to smithereens at the BU Bridge.

When one of the motorists stuck in the morass complained to Bob's via Twitter, Bob's replied:

Hello Rosina, can you please provide your contact/account phone number if you would like assistance? Thank you

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

I now take the Charles Bike Path starting at the Weeks (Harvard) footbridge when going to work. I've been shocked at how often there's a stuck truck in the emergency breakdown lane heading east. It's almost once a week, sometimes more. Most of these never make it to Uhub since they don't block traffic.

DCR/DOT needs to get off their ass and install some active warning device like they have for Big Dig tunnels.

up
Voting closed 0

active warning devices on the entrance ramps to Storrow and Memorial Drives. When activated, they gave off both visual and aural signals.

Most of the signs - which read "Bridge Too Low" in neon tube, were placed well after drivers had committed to entering the road. Further, the height detection itself was horribly unreliable, causing false alarms. Not only that, but about six months after the system was installed, the aural signals were disconnected in response to abutter complaints about the noise. Lastly, because the equipment was expensive and required constant maintenance, the MDC quickly allowed the system to fall into disrepair.

As I've said both in this thread and elsewhere, the first solution is to put up PROPER and CONCISE signing at locations on intersecting streets BEFORE the drivers of overheight vehicles are committed to entering the highway. And putting a warning message on a entrance where the driver has to BACK UP off the ramp to comply with the warning (as with the "Cars Only" baby buggy bumpers) is NOT acceptable.

This nonsesne with the current signing is another reason why Storrow and Memorial Drives need to be transferred from DCR to MassDOT. They are arterial HIGHWAYS, not parkways, and should be operated and maintained as such.

up
Voting closed 0

Install sacrificial beams before vehicles get to a chokepoint. Add a heft fine for whacking the beam to cover repairs to said beam.

up
Voting closed 0

Why to people keep on smashing into this bridge, which has clear markings of the height.

Sometimes the problem is with driver error.

up
Voting closed 0

To quote a old further store tv ad

I doubt it.

up
Voting closed 0

          ( human truck drivers? — no, they'll never learn )

up
Voting closed 0

But not formatted to drive in the state of Mass.

up
Voting closed 0

up
Voting closed 0

It will be great to see that robot driver lift the mattresses off the truck and carry them to the top floor of a triple decker.

up
Voting closed 0

This happens because the drivers are using Google Maps to navigate. Google Maps is not a commercial driving map set ... but you bet the robot drivers won't hesitate to just ram the bridges.

up
Voting closed 0

the "parkway" (ha ha ha) in the first place, the fact remains that the signing at the entrances to Storrow Drive,with limited exceptions, just plain SUCKS! Perhaps if Bob's driver was properly informed of the actual low clearance before they entered the road, instead of finding out as they almost hit a bridge, they would have found a different route.

But let's blame GPS once again for the failings of the DCR and the City of Boston in not properly informing drivers of these restrictions. And, sorry, but "Danger Low Clearance - without indicating the actual clearance" and homemade "Cars Only" rubber baby buggy bumpers do NOT adequately convey the height restrictions. Especially when at least 90% of the other "truck" restrictions in the Greater Boston area actually have NO physical restrictions and were enacted by politicians to appease snobby residents who can't deal with the fact that they live on streets that trucks NEED to use.

up
Voting closed 0

Way to miss the point ROADMAN!

As much as you like to blame everything BUT irresponsible driving by idiotic moron meatbags for crashing bridges, GPS would still be a problem for automated drivers.

up
Voting closed 0

Autonomous vehicles have many different types of sensors, as described in the chart below:
IMAGE(http://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/foundry/image/?q=60&url=https%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fthe-drive-staging%2Fmessage-editor%252F1490618464727-20170302_2025ad_infographic_sensors.jpg)
Some sensors are better at certain things, or under certain conditions. The computers analyze everything and form a consensus about what's happening in the real world. As part of a complex, fail-safe design, if one sensor fails or provides bad data, the car won't act upon it because the other sensors will be in disagreement.

Some systems are still being perfected, but the technology is rapidly accelerating! It won't be long before people will find it hard to believe dangerous cars and trucks were once piloted manually by fallible human drivers.

up
Voting closed 0

> Especially when at least 90% of the other "truck" restrictions in the Greater Boston area actually have NO physical restrictions and were enacted by politicians to appease snobby residents who can't deal with the fact that they live on streets that trucks NEED to use.

Sorry but truck drivers shouldn't be on roads where trucks are banned, period, end of story, no exceptions. Stop making excuses for idiots who think they have the absolute right to ruin everyone else's quality of life to save ten seconds.

up
Voting closed 0

No pictures?

up
Voting closed 0

thread is useless without pics

up
Voting closed 0

When one of the motorists stuck in the morass complained to Bob's via Twitter, Bob's replied:

Hello Rosina, can you please provide your contact/account phone number if you would like assistance? Thank you

Probably a bot. There's some variation in other replies, but most seem to follow the same formula. As a social guy, I'm personally not a fan of bots for customer service purposes (here's a prime example why), but that'a a different rant for a different day.

up
Voting closed 0

like this one, you contact the company's safety officer (and I suspect Bob's is a large enough company that either they or the trucking company that is contracted to haul their furniture has one). You don't sent a tweet to their general Twitter account and expect that the right people will be made aware of the issue.

up
Voting closed 0

Would that make you a happy old man?

up
Voting closed 0