stevieboy308:
ajt:
No excuses for it.Its second nature ''i’m driving a truck - there are signs for a low bridge ahead =
‘’
Have you ever made a mistake?
Hitting a bridge is not a mistake, its incompetence.
in my opinion anyone who hits a bridge should have his licence revoked for a time period and made to sit his test again, because there is something wrong somewhere. Bridges do not jump out on you, they are there all the time, staring you straight in the face with a bloody great sign on the front of them.
shep532:
No matter how much we try to ‘train’ the drivers
shep532:
They have had two in the last 2 weeks.
shep532:
Unless anyone has a better idea to make drivers ‘remember’ the high load / low bridge
“You can’t train stupid” 
shep532:
I could do with a little guidance if possible.One of my customers for DCPC has a terrible problem with bridge strikes. No matter how much we try to ‘train’ the drivers they keep trying to get 15ft plus loads under 14ft bridges etc and the latest one has resulted in a lost load and prosecution for the driver. there was a 18 inch difference in height. They have had two in the last 2 weeks.
The loads are measured by the loaders and this height written on the paperwork. The driver has access to a proper measuring stick and is supposed to then meaure the load once his tractor is under the trailer, then write this next to the original loaders height before he leaves.
It seems from most of them the driver simply ‘forgets’ he has a high load on!
I’m hoping someone can recommend a Sat Nav that bings and bongs on the approach to anything remotely low. I did a quick look online and see the TomTom does this if the right data set is installed but do you guys know of anything off the shelf that works?
We don’t want re-routing or even any routing, we just want bridge alerts in the same way speed cameras work.
Unless anyone has a better idea to make drivers ‘remember’ the high load / low bridge
Cheers
Pete
LOL… they should have went to Specsavers 
shep532:
The loads are measured by the loaders and this height written on the paperwork.
Get this practice stopped its the drivers responsibility and will make them lazy if somebody else does it + I wouldn’t trust anybody elses measurments anyway.
The driver has access to a proper measuring stick and is supposed to then meaure the load once his tractor is under the trailer, then write this next to the original loaders height before he leaves.
Doubt they bother and just copy what the loaders have put.
It seems from most of them the driver simply ‘forgets’ he has a high load on!
Old timers, perhaps its time for an injection of young blood to keep them on their toes.
I’m hoping someone can recommend a Sat Nav that bings and bongs on the approach to anything remotely low. I did a quick look online and see the TomTom does this if the right data set is installed but do you guys know of anything off the shelf that works?
Doubt this will help, it appears they are hitting bridges on purpose 
We don’t want re-routing or even any routing, we just want bridge alerts in the same way speed cameras work.
Re-routing is essential if a low bridge is in the way, perhaps thats it they know theres a low bridge but aren’t sure what to do and opt for going for it in the hope that the bridge measurer has mad a miscalculation.
Unless anyone has a better idea to make drivers ‘remember’ the high load / low bridge
Instant dismissal for a bridge strike, torture the drivers till it sinks in, eye tests, iq tests, smaller wheels…
paul.simpson.10420:
A lad at our place hit one …his defence was I thought there would of been a few extra inches to what the sign said ■■?
thats right mate they usually put signs up a few inches lower than it actually is just in case some drivers are thick
a lot of our trailers are 16 foot 2 and anyone will tell you that they do fit under 16 foot bridges
most of the time
sometimes you just have to go for it when theres loads of traffic behind and no where to reverse and do a 180
my problem is i find myself ducking as i drive under
the feeling once you are under and through without any damage is better than ■■■
I seem to remember that this ‘oh, well the signs are always marked up two or three inches lower than the bridge really is’ excuse got proven badly wrong somewhere after the council had been along and resurfaced the road?
Anyone who knowingly drives a lorry under a bridge which is signed up as being lower than their truck should just send their license back to Swansea and go and do something else.
It was the same with weighlinmts on bridges the mean 15 t not 10 t haha
Some interesting replies and not a lot of support for the drivers concerned!
The drivers are shown how to use a proper measuring device and given the time to do so. The loads are very distinct timber products and as soon as you see them you wonder if they’ll fit under a bridge - they are strikingly high and it isn’t like the drivers don’t know they are carrying a high load.
It used to be down to just the drivers to measure the height, after quite a few bridge strikes they went to the double measure process where the loader measures it and the driver check measures it. Clearly doesn’t work.
When they hit a bridge with 18" difference it isn’t that they didn’t measure the load - they seem to have either forgotten they have anything on at all or just not seen the bridge and it appears the latter is the more common reason - hence thinking a bing-bong 200m before and then 100 metres etc might help jog their memories.
The last two times the driver diverted from the route he was told to take - there shouldn’t even have been any bridges to worry about and think this was down to standard car type sat nav use.
I saw a great idea at Royal Mail. The corners at the front of the trailer had the height stuck on, vertically in a reverse font so when the driver looks in his mirrors he sees the height in his mirror - good reminder, but these are flat beds and often without even a headboard so not really practical.
Training clearly doesn’t work. Sacking someone might make the boss feel better but doesn’t really help anyone.
ajt:
stevieboy308:
ajt:
No excuses for it.Its second nature ''i’m driving a truck - there are signs for a low bridge ahead =
Have you ever made a mistake?
Hitting a bridge is not a mistake, its incompetence.
i’m sure there’ll be a few that are incompetent, but i’d bet most bridge strikes will be competent drivers that made a mistake
We move high loads, for lift trucks of various types and I am paranoid about the height of the masts on my bed, as others have said if the drivers can’t think for themselves about the loads maybe they are in the wrong section of the haulage industry?
Shep, the job has to be worth getting and definately not worth losing.
Company takes pick of lorry drivers, company gets good staff, staff get good T’s and C’s, staff take extreme care of their job, everyone’s a winner.
As many have pointed out in this thread, you can’t make a silk ■■■■■ etc, how can you possibly train an idiot not to run into a bridge, how do you do so, keep hitting the thing till you finally smash the bridge to pieces.
One sentence from your last post stands out, the one where routes are planned for these people, thats cobblers…a lorry driver plans their own route, its not done for them, it diminishes the drivers and takes away their responsibility.
Lorry driver plans own route with the aid of a proper bridge height map, electronic toy like prat nav has no place in route planning, its a useful aid to spotting blind or unsigned turnings, and can be invaluable for the last stage of a journey in a strange town, but it should never ever be used to direct a lorry driver, let people best left to push pens ponce about with computers and electronic toys, let lorry drivers do their job.
pre plan the routes for the drivers ■■?
Plugster:
pre plan the routes for the drivers ■■?
This is done. Someone in an office checks the map for low bridges and decides a route for the driver. This way a bridge cannot be hit. This is based on the loaders measurement of the load.
The last two strikes the driver had deviated and stumbled across a bridge. Both of the last two were about 18" out and well smacked the load. The last one left the back of the wagon to lie in the road. CCTV shows a cyclist arrive on scene just minutes later - close call.
Yes the drivers are at fault but I am trying to think of a way to avoid the human error eliment, or at least help.
Juddian:
Shep, the job has to be worth getting and definately not worth losing.Company takes pick of lorry drivers, company gets good staff, staff get good T’s and C’s, staff take extreme care of their job, everyone’s a winner.
As many have pointed out in this thread, you can’t make a silk ■■■■■ etc, how can you possibly train an idiot not to run into a bridge, how do you do so, keep hitting the thing till you finally smash the bridge to pieces.
One sentence from your last post stands out, the one where routes are planned for these people, thats cobblers…a lorry driver plans their own route, its not done for them, it diminishes the drivers and takes away their responsibility.
Lorry driver plans own route with the aid of a proper bridge height map, electronic toy like prat nav has no place in route planning, its a useful aid to spotting blind or unsigned turnings, and can be invaluable for the last stage of a journey in a strange town, but it should never ever be used to direct a lorry driver, let people best left to push pens ponce about with computers and electronic toys, let lorry drivers do their job.
what’s the difference between a proper bridge height map and a sat nav loaded with the same data base of bridge heights?
shep532:
Plugster:
pre plan the routes for the drivers ■■?The last two strikes the driver had deviated and stumbled across a bridge. Both of the last two were about 18" out and well smacked the load.
Transporter 3 - when Jason went “Off course”, Mr. Nasty sent the boys out to persuade him back on course. Of course, Jason was able to deal with the boys, but we probably couldn’t…
this an office job they know appeox heigth
and destinayionthey should plan route
Sure we can…get under that bridge
neilf:
Politely advise your client that if they paid a decent rate they would open themselves up to decent drivers that would be capable of doing the job.Cheers
Neilf
Very much this ^^^^^^. As Juddian (I think) already pointed out, perhaps your client needs to approach this costly problem from a different direction altogether.
I’m gonna take a punt here and guess that your client here Shep pays what he terms “competitive for the area” wages? I think we all know the answer to that one, and the words “peanuts” “monkeys” “pay” and “get” spring to mind. If your client is amenable to suggestion Shep maybe a suggestion that simply by adding £2 per hour to his base rate he is almost guaranteed to attract the type of driver that will consign this problem to the dustbin. Yes I appreciate that he will say that he can’t afford a wage increase, but if he carries on like this then surely his insurance premiums will drive him out of business faster.
The answer lies 100% in the gaffers wallet.
stevieboy308:
Juddian:
what’s the difference between a proper bridge height map and a sat nav loaded with the same data base of bridge heights?
Nothing like the area coverage on two spread pages for overview…exception being a full size computer screen which can be readily and clearly resized.
Map doesn’t throw a wobbly when power drops nor does it ever need a reboot, it always works.
As i said sat nav a fine tool to run alongside, it’s great for spotting likely camera sites, its superb for early warnings of unmarked turnings, and excellent in strange towns, and if so fitted it keeps an eye on the traffic for you, but one thing it should not do is tell a pro lorry driver what route he should take…only my opinion.
Its a brilliant pocket sized street map of the country though, and at that it beats maps hands down.