Thursday, November 16, 2017

Still crashing after all these years (the Can Opener Bridge)

Call it schadenfreude or voyeurism or something else, but it’s hard to resist watching the videos of truck after truck crashing into the low railroad overpass in Durham, North Carolina, captured for posterity on the amazing website 11foot8.com.
For those who haven’t watched, the website has two fixed cameras that record the occurrence of trucks failing to obey the flashing lights and clearly posted height limit and slicing off the top of their truck and/or getting stuck by running straight into the bridge.  This happens on average about once a month.  A lot of the trucks seem to be rentals, so I guess that unfamiliarity with the vehicle is some sort of excuse (although when I’m in a rented vehicle I tend to be super-cautious and observant).

I don’t know what lessons can be drawn from this crazy place, but it sure reminds us that the human element is always unpredictable.


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