Bridge Strikes

Mikros

After another bridge strike this morning at the Dart bridge on Barrow Street (well a crane that got wedged under it) I was wondering does anyone know if the truck/crane/whatever driver responsible ever get prosecuted for this? A bit of justice maybe?

I mean asides from the danger of a train passing over at the same time, how many people are potentially delayed in morning rush hour by this – it must be thousands, the entire Dart network is shut down from Pearse to Landsdown. It drove me bloody mad this morning when the trains are running on time and then some gobsh*te driver mashes into a bridge where anyone with a tiny bit of spatial reasoning could see it would never fit.

Anyone know what happens after one of these incidents?

fitzyshea

I think IE do prosecute cause there are way too many now especially at the custom house.

mikemac

Only a matter of time before there is a serious accident and potential loss of life unless Irish Rail has some fantastic saftey procedure I don't know about.


Imagine a doomsday scenario where the bridge by the Custom House gets hit and seconds later a train ends up in the Liffey:eek:
Don't laugh, I'd imagine it could happen. Or maybe I just worry too much

But most likely an accident will happen in a rural area where lorry driver doesn't report the bridge strike and there are no witnesses.

tampopo

yeah, just early last week or the week before, Barry Kenny PRO of IE was on the Pat Kenny show discussing this phenomenon.

Frustratingly when PK put it to him about putting a barrier a few metres before the bridge, the IE lad mentioned something about the liability due to trucks shedding their loads. But PK didn't say to him "well, they're going to shed their loads if they hit the bridge, this would be a better proposition, no?" I nearly shouted at the radio.

Zoney

At least Iarnród Éireann seem to have got decent PR guys. From the breakingnews.ie story here:

Iarnród Éireann has described the truck driver responsible for this morning's incident as an "idiot" who failed to check his height and his route.

"The bridges around the Grand Canal Dock area are visibly very low," a spokesman said. "It takes a peculiar type of moron not to be aware of that."

Classic!

I sincerely hope they can extract, from the driver or his company, significant compensation as demanded by such a huge disruption.

aliveandkicking

"It takes a peculiar type of moron not to be aware of that."

:D Brilliant. I miss this kind of straight talking in today's ultra PC world

About time Barry Kenny spoke the truth. I heard him on newstalk on my way to work this morning and my jaw dropped when he start calling the driver an idiot!

Hotblack Desiato

Zoney wrote: »

I sincerely hope they can extract, from the driver or his company, significant compensation as demanded by such a huge disruption.

Screw that, the insurer will be paying not the driver.
Convictions, driving bans and sackings are what's needed.

BrianD

I would agree that the majority of bridge strikes are due to lack of due care and attention by drivers.

Having said that isn't hight time that the councils (and/or IR) put up advance warning signage. For example there should be signage on Pearse St. and Grand Canal St. indicating the presence of low bridges on the streets inbetween e.g Barrow St.

Even if the driver is paying attention, most of those streets are two narrow to allow him/her turn and go back they way they came.

It's pointless putting a sign right at the bridge. The barriers are also pointless as we'll end up with a truck that hasn't damaged a bridge but will cause traffic disruption. Good signage should (hopefully!!) prevent both.

larchill

Aye! I agree, signs & notices are alright (they all have one), but in the end it's the nimnuts who drive these things who should take the knock - a fine of uo to 50k &/or a five year ban! That'll sort them - they'd make damn sure their load will fit without doing damage, or take an alternative route.

John R

micmclo wrote: »

Only a matter of time before there is a serious accident and potential loss of life unless Irish Rail has some fantastic saftey procedure I don't know about.


Imagine a doomsday scenario where the bridge by the Custom House gets hit and seconds later a train ends up in the Liffey:eek:
Don't laugh, I'd imagine it could happen. Or maybe I just worry too much

Trains have ended up in water a number of times due to various bridge strikes. One of the worst ones in recent memory was in Alabama where a canal barge rammed a bridge in darkness and an Amtrak passenger train derailed and several carriages plunged into the river. c. 30 dead.

micmclo wrote: »

But most likely an accident will happen in a rural area where lorry driver doesn't report the bridge strike and there are no witnesses.

Gorey New year's eve 1975, 5 killed when a truck carrying plant machinery struck a bridge shortly before a Rosslare - Dublin train passed over it.







The wooden bodied coaches shattered into matchwood, if it weren't for the first two carriages being locked empty there would have been many more fatalities.

strassenwolf

Would it not be possible to place some kind of gantry a few metres either side of these bridges, so that they get hit and the bridge doesn't?

I've certainly seen something like that in Frankfurt to prevent trucks hitting overhead wires on the city's tram lines. Expensive, of course, initially, but at least it would reduce transport disruption and would reduce the possibility of related fatalities/injuries.

Bluetonic

Sorry to dig up an old thread but these are still a regular occurrence. One on Monday last, also this debacle on Thursday.

Friday November 28 2008

HE IS the scrap dealer who gets into scrapes himself. Loaded with four wrecked cars, the driver of this truck hit two rail bridges in the capital.

The drama began around 2pm when staff at Iarnrod Eireann HQ heard a loud bang as the truck hit the Amiens Street bridge. Undeterred by his initial failure, the driver backed up and went for it again. Horrified motorists could only look on as the driver brought traffic to a standstilll.

Four cars on his truck were unevenly stacked and only held in place by the grabber and a rope.

Eventually, the driver decided it was time to put plan B into action, so he swung the truck around and went looking for another route.

But the new plan was foiled by the Loopline bridge at the Custom House. Here, not having learned his lesson, the driver struck the second bridge. This time, instead of giving up, he attempted to force his way through.

It was pedal to the metal in one sense and metal to the metal in another, as he unsuccessfully revved the engine.

"He got out and jumped on to the cars to try to stamp them down," explained an Iarnrod Eireann spokesperson.

"He made contact with the Custom House bridge and got stuck but he kept going."

There is no structural damage to either bridge and the company is still considering what action it will take against the driver.

Although the truck is branded with the name Drones Stone, the sand and gravel company from Northern Ireland said it sold the truck three months ago and does not know the current owner.

No arrest was made but gardai from Store Street were yesterday examining the circumstances of the collision. The driver allegedly gave his address as a roundabout in Santry. He was also driving without insurance.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/scrap-dealer-crashes-truck-into-rail-bridges--twice-1556479.html

No words needed.

Davy

The thread is worthy of a dig up! The guy driving that yoke must be nuts. I drove past it parked as it is in the picture on the hearld site, but the picture doesnt show how the cars are leaning more then the leaning tower of pisa. If he was as greedy and took one less car he would have avoided everything,,,, F*cking muppet.

Cant understand why he wasnt arrested

HonalD

davton wrote: »

Cant understand why he wasnt arrested

We live in Ireland?

CtrlSource

i too can't understand why he wasn't arrested. Does anyone know if the truck and its precarious cargo was at least impounded?

Judgement Day

Come on, this is Ireland we have plenty of law and NO order! This guy should have been arrested and his truck confiscated. What would have happened if a car fell from this grossly overladen truck and killed somebody - more hand wringing and calls for enquiries? How about the f....g Garda doing their jobs for once?

strassenwolf

davton wrote: »

Cant understand why he wasnt arrested

I agree.

I was amazed, when I read the original report, and saw the picture of the load. The driver should most certainly have been taken into custody and, eventually, been put away, simply for taking a load like that, whether or not there were bridges involved.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh, though, and we should wait for some word on whether the driver was possibly part of a minority community, and may not yet be aware of how things are normally done in Ireland.

Latvian, Lithuanian, Czech, Polish, Slovakian, etc., etc.

That might help to explain this behaviour.

Davy

strassenwolf wrote: »

I agree.

I was amazed, when I read the original report, and saw the picture of the load. The driver should most certainly have been taken into custody and, eventually, been put away, simply for taking a load like that, whether or not there were bridges involved.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh, though, and we should wait for some word on whether the driver was possibly part of a minority community, and may not yet be aware of how things are normally done in Ireland.

Latvian, Lithuanian, Czech, Polish, Slovakian, etc., etc.

That might help to explain this behaviour.

No matter where the driver was from they should have know to have insurance.

He was also driving without insurance.

dowlingm

What the article does not say is if a garda attended the first crash or if the driver legged it. If one did, it should be a hat-on interview with no tea and biscuits with his superior and a posting to the fecking Aran Islands. Okay maybe not that harsh but a boot up the arrse at any rate.

strassenwolf

davton wrote: »

No matter where the driver was from they should have know to have insurance.

I absolutely agree.

Oh, and I seem to have forgotten to mention the travelling "community" in my original list of minorities.

He has to be a local, that type of loony doesn't have it in them to travel abroad!