Network Rail have launched a new campaign to try and make people more aware if the damage of bridge strikes, and the cost, delays and other effects of such.
At the end of the article, they have included a picture of… a bus wedged under a bridge.
Is it just me, or do most bridge strikes seem to be caused by busses anyway? And yet, we seem to get all the blame and the bad reputation for it, despite busses being likely to cause more injury or even death when striking a bridge
railtechnologymagazine.com/ … o-campaign
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Would be interesting to know the breakdown in figures between say vehicle type, load / trailer type, experience of driver etc.
That would give a good idea whether bus operators should be targeted, or should it be less experienced drivers or maybe even is it trailers being marked only in meters & bridges in feet by default.
No one should hit one unless incorrectly marked, but instead of having poster campaigns then moaning they dont work, they could try doing some targeted analysis.
As a side note, if a bridge is hit by a non UK truck, can the police seize the vehicle until payments are made or could it (damage depending) just sneak off back to its homeland?
A bus hitting a bridge is obviously dangerous for passengers and anyone else in the vicinity, but they don’t really damage a well constructed bridge, whereas a 30+ mph strike by a piece of solid steel plant equipment or steel container can cause serious structural damage.
At the end of the day whilst employers insist on paying peanuts and take little interest in the resulting quality of recruitment, in turn leading to better staff becoming demoralised due to dumbing down, then these things will continue to happen.
A few years ago, lorry hit a masonry bridge in Matlock town centre which brought down some masonry and killed a passing pedestrian.
Just let the trains go underneath the bridges and put buses and lorries on top. 
Just a thought … its not like bridge strikes are a new thing, in the long run you would have thought that a ongoing programme of road lowering and bridge raising depending on local factors would get rid of this .
of course this costs money and would rely on co operation and co ordination between agencies ( never going to happen then )
but till then its a case of eyes open brain switched on and know where your’e going spend 5 mins planning to save a great deal of embarresment
I don’t understand why they can’t spend a few hundred quid putting metal goal posts on the run up to bridges such as the top ten in the ‘hit parade’!
Should I stop talking sense and get my coat? [emoji2373]