High Profile Vehicles Beware of Low Bridges (video)

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Ballenxj

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
3,211
Reaction score
15
. I hope you folks can view this video compilation of people caught unaware.
 
Omg...I hate myself for laughing, we have a 9'6" that I haven't measured(it states 9'6" inside vehicle), and I worry about this.
 
Go right to the website at http://11foot8.com

My van is labeled 10.5' inside, but I have (very carefully) driven under overhangs marked 10'...
 
Yes,  I remain hyper aware of my surroundings when driving my Van.   I avoid drive thru's at fast food places altogether.  

I'm also very cautious when I drive after dark.   There are some shopping centers where they have signs that say "No Big Trucks on this Lot".   These places often have an overhead beam over the entrance & exits of the lot
so a Semi can't pull on the lot and sleep a couple of hours.  (and it's weight damage the asphalt)

High Top Vans are nice,  but you have to learn to always beware of low hanging things while you are under way.
 
What caught my attention was seeing that bridge in the video shave peoples A/C units off unsuspecting folks RV's with regularity, so I figured I should post it here to make folks aware of that danger.
 
I like how that one fifth wheel driver slowed down, suspecting something was amiss, then simply sheared off their AC units at a slower pace.


Some of those truck's boxes were certainly built more stout than others.
 
While working at the cabinet shop we had two guys take the roof off rental trucks. Luckily my boss got the extra insurance both times!

Another time I was helping my brother move from Boston to NYC. He was driving the rental and I was in my regular truck. I see him headed right for a Parkway exit so I start flashing my lights and honking my horn but he kept trucking right along, after the 5th low clearance sign and realizing he was oblivious to the height of the truck he was driving I sped up and got in front of him and waved him over to the side. He had no idea a vehicle could be too tall for certain roads. We then had to squeeze over 4 lanes of traffic to get in the correct lane.
 
Measuring the height of my fifth wheel is in the works to do this summer after the snow melt...and tape it to the dashboard of my truck!
 
DuneElliot said:
Measuring the height of my fifth wheel is in the works to do this summer after the snow melt...and tape it to the dashboard of my truck!

Make sure to include to the top of the A/C unit.  ;)  
I remember one year in Vegas, a semi trailer hit the bridge. This truck driver knew his business! He went after the city or state for posting the wrong height that was too short by a couple inches. Come to find out, every time they repaved the road, it gained an inch, and was a couple inches shorter than posted. I don't know what happened after that, but I'll bet they don't do that again, at least until they forget again. :p
 
In Eastern Kentucky a lot of times they have a dip in the road under the train tracks and because of the steep rise of the road coming out of the dip even with being under the posted height because of the length of the trailer or school bus it hits. Don't know how many times I had to deflate the tires to make it through!
 
Ballenxj said:
Make sure to include to the top of the A/C unit.  ;)  
I remember one year in Vegas, a semi trailer hit the bridge. This truck driver knew his business! He went after the city or state for posting the wrong height that was too short by a couple inches. Come to find out, every time they repaved the road, it gained an inch, and was a couple inches shorter than posted. I don't know what happened after that, but I'll bet they don't do that again, at least until they forget again. :p

Oh, definintely, yes! I'll even add on 6" to the height I write down so I'm even not even getting close.
 
And it depends upon the tire pressure.... if you're counting that closely.

Down here in South Florida there are numerous streets that have overhanging branches.... if it's a route used by trucks, most of them are "pruned" by the trucks, accordingly...and then there are cities that actually "finish" pruning the street trees but not in a tree shape, in the geometric shape the truck traffic has broken them into.... and often they are not pruned back off the road at the side, so one has to be very careful in avoiding those branches! Like the tall street signs on the right the weird shaped trees will jump out and get cha! hahahah

I'm tall and long both. My nearest bank branch says it's high enough for me to fit under (9'2" I am) but then there are lights that drop down from the drive through ceiling (at least 6") and so is the height measured from their ceiling or from the bottom of the lights? I drove up close to the end stall and parked and go out but... even with my selfie stick I could get high enough to even it. I need a stiff tape measure?
 
Ballenxj said:
. I hope you folks can view this video compilation of people caught unaware.


Thank You for this post/link  I watched all of it and one thing that amazed me is that it seemed as if the surrounding vehicles weren't hit by flying metal/AC's etc.  I've been very careful since my daily driver has gone from a Ranger PU to a Safari Hightop van.   I will definately figure out a way to measure it from the highest rooftop point down to the ground ASAP!

Jewellann
 
Once I'm really on the road, to allay some of my fears of being detoured onto (or becoming lost) a back road that has a bridge...I thought about putting a rooftop-tall thin antenna wire like item on the front corner of the bumper with a good tip on it so it bends if it touches the lowest part of the bridge I gotta back up. ROFL Probably not... but I could use a curb sounder or two I think while I'm thinking of it.
 
That is the famed 'Can-Opener Bridge' in NC. It even has its own Wikipedia entry! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11_foot_8_Bridge

"The 77-year-old bridge cannot be raised, because nearby railroad crossings would also have to be raised. The street cannot be lowered, because a major sewer line runs only four feet (1.2 m) under Gregson Street."

A guy who used to drive truck once said that another reason for leaving some extra space is because when the road is repaved, they may add about 4" of pavement and not change the sign.
 
7 ft 2 inches.  I looked at that link last night, then the bad drivers in Russia.  Then this one of the worlds greatest semi driver.  I have driven that one more than once after snow trip weekends.  :blush:

 
Why I drive slow in the snow.  The WalMart driver saved lives in this one. 

 

Latest posts

Top