Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

youtube.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 206 posts

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#101

Post by gambiting »

speeder wrote: post #69

And I think some people will STILL crash on the tunnel anyway. I made a arcade game once: www.abril.com.br/blog/campus-party/2011/01/19/fanatico-por-jogos-leva-seu-proprio-fliperama-para-a-arena/ It has instructions printed on the sides of the screen... It was VERY, VERY, VERY common to someone ask people around them what a button do (sometimes to even random passerby people, or for example a couple arrived at the ma…

You should talk to my mum about it. When anything comes up on her computers' screen, she will just panic and call me or my dad or anyone else, BEFORE even reading what is says. Most conversations look like this: "Hi son, my computer just broke, something came up on the screen and it won't go away" "ok mom, what does it say?" "I don't know, I haven't read it"

People are exceedingly good at ignoring information if they don't want to get involved....

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#102

Post by adamcarolla »

speeder wrote: post #69

And I think some people will STILL crash on the tunnel anyway. I made a arcade game once: www.abril.com.br/blog/campus-party/2011/01/19/fanatico-por-jogos-leva-seu-proprio-fliperama-para-a-arena/ It has instructions printed on the sides of the screen... It was VERY, VERY, VERY common to someone ask people around them what a button do (sometimes to even random passerby people, or for example a couple arrived at the ma…

road spikes

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#103

Post by gambiting »

evan_ wrote: post #83
fab13n wrote: post #74

That's a cute high-tech solution. A simpler one is to put a horizontal bar, the same height as the tunnel's ceiling, which will physically stop the truck before causing millions worth of damages. It's often done in France, sometimes with an early warning: a first arch with chains hanging to the maximal height. It makes a lot of noise on the truck's top, but won't destroy it.

Did you see the truck in the video take out an enormous steel beam that was presumably attached to the structure of the tunnel in some kind of permanent way? How would your solution avoid the same fate?

Solid beam is probably a bad idea, but many tunnels have chains dangling above the road at the tunnel's maximum height - if you hit them, you will hear it,but they will do little damage to the vehicle.

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#104

Post by acqq »

gsnedders wrote: post #55
Kluny wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The drivers aren't doing it purposely. They have been driving for 16 hours, are in an unfamiliar city, and are almost asleep at the wheel.

16 hours!? Wow. The EU has a legal maximum of 10 hours per day — and that's only allowed twice a week, ordinarily 9 hours, with at least 45 minutes break every 45 minutes.

And the trucks are controlled, still drivers manage to trick the regulators: "I'll drive your shift now you'll get mine once" etc.

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#105

Post by ars »

exit wrote: post #95
fab13n wrote: post #74

That's a cute high-tech solution. A simpler one is to put a horizontal bar, the same height as the tunnel's ceiling, which will physically stop the truck before causing millions worth of damages. It's often done in France, sometimes with an early warning: a first arch with chains hanging to the maximal height. It makes a lot of noise on the truck's top, but won't destroy it.

self-driving car systems are going to eliminate human operators in a few years anyway, no?

In a few decades maybe, certainly not a few years.

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#106

Post by preinheimer »

gambiting wrote: post #100

Or they could you know....just build a tunnel big enough to fir every vehicle size? I don't think this problem exists in the UK, I've driven through many different tunnels and they will accept any vehicle size.

Really? "any vehicle size"?

Including trucks carrying around 40ft tall construction equipment (like cranes) on flatbeds? What about those huge wind-turbine pieces?

You can't plan for "any", especially with shrinking government budgets globally. You plan for "most", and work to ensure the remainder has some sort of possible route.

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#107

Post by bernardom »

tibbon wrote: post #58

I wish they had this Storrow Drive in Boston. Every year during school move-in, then uHauls get stuck. What a mess.

Its sister on the other side of the river, Memorial Drive, does: http://goo.gl/maps/jdTtx

But that doesn't stop everyone: http://bit.ly/10LXX53 http://bit.ly/10FmQLa

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#108

Post by ghjm »

fab13n wrote: post #74

That's a cute high-tech solution. A simpler one is to put a horizontal bar, the same height as the tunnel's ceiling, which will physically stop the truck before causing millions worth of damages. It's often done in France, sometimes with an early warning: a first arch with chains hanging to the maximal height. It makes a lot of noise on the truck's top, but won't destroy it.

In some jurisdictions, the owner of the truck can sue you for damages if the structure was constructed with the intent and purpose of damaging the truck.

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#109

Post by twistedpair »

evan_ wrote: post #83
fab13n wrote: post #74

That's a cute high-tech solution. A simpler one is to put a horizontal bar, the same height as the tunnel's ceiling, which will physically stop the truck before causing millions worth of damages. It's often done in France, sometimes with an early warning: a first arch with chains hanging to the maximal height. It makes a lot of noise on the truck's top, but won't destroy it.

Did you see the truck in the video take out an enormous steel beam that was presumably attached to the structure of the tunnel in some kind of permanent way? How would your solution avoid the same fate?

That beam they took out is called a "sacrificial beam." It was not a structural support, but was meant to take the impact before any structural members were damaged. You'll see them on many modern bridges and underpasses.

Re: Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video]

#110

Post by gambiting »

preinheimer wrote: post #106
gambiting wrote: post #100

Or they could you know....just build a tunnel big enough to fir every vehicle size? I don't think this problem exists in the UK, I've driven through many different tunnels and they will accept any vehicle size.

Really? "any vehicle size"? Including trucks carrying around 40ft tall construction equipment (like cranes) on flatbeds? What about those huge wind-turbine pieces? You can't plan for "any", especially with shrinking government budgets globally. You plan for "most", and work to ensure the remainder has some sort of possible route.

I knew somebody was going to point out that oversized vehicles won't fit. For your knowledge, these vehicles are not normally legal to drive(in the EU), they need to have special permissions, display "oversized" badge on the back and on the front, but most importantly, they need to have their route planned and approved days in advance from actually driving anywhere. So none of these vehicles would ever crash into a tunnel, because such a route would not be approved in the first place.

By "any" I mean any of the sizes approved for legal road use, and there is not many of them. Trailers can only be of a certain height and width, and most tunnels are built to accomodate for those dimensions. And usually, tunnels are built to either make the route shorter, or redirect traffic out of the city. So if the biggest vehicles on the road cannot use them, and have to go through the city, then it defeats the point of building the tunnel altogether.

Post reply on HN