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

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

#141

Post by danielharan »

devrelm wrote: post #115
steve-howard wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately when we have reliable, safe, self-driving cars, the loudest complainers will be truck drivers who now have to find new careers. I hope I don't sound too mean to hope their concerns are ignored.

I predict legislation saying that certain self-driving vehicles cannot be unmanned. This benefits the truck driver while still maintaining a reason to have one. Besides, someone will still have to fill the thing with diesel. In the long term, though, you're most likely right; truck drivers will have to find new careers. However, said legislation combined with what I believe will be slow adoption due to high cost shou…

Over that long, most of the industry should disappear through attrition alone.

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

#142

Post by PeterisP »

steve-howard wrote: post #76
jessedhillon wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When we have reliable, safe, self-driving cars this is the first industry that should be replaced by robots. How archaic is it that we pay people to ruin their bodies while attempting the inhuman task of keeping perfectly alert for several boring hours, while piloting a giant mass at lethal speeds.

Unfortunately when we have reliable, safe, self-driving cars, the loudest complainers will be truck drivers who now have to find new careers. I hope I don't sound too mean to hope their concerns are ignored.

If we make long-haul trucks self-driving, then we'll just have to replace the 'driver' job with 'guard' job. Otherwise it's far too simple - block the road; the robot will stop to avoid an accident, and you loot the cargo and/or the car.

It doesn't really matter what they're shipping - a truckload of TVs is nice, but even a truckload of sh*t is valuable enough to make it worthwhile.

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

#143

Post by sa5 »

twistedpair wrote: post #130
sa5 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't read or don't speak english, a sign with text and flashing yellow lights may not be that obvious.

Then you didn't pass your driving exam and get a license. In the US that's required and I suspect most countries require the ability to understand posted signs to get a drivers license. If you're driving without a license, then that's a different issue.

The video that jere linked to is from North Carolina which happens to be where I live. The drivers test here is offered in English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. They also offer it orally, specifically for people who have trouble reading. There's a sign test, but they just show you the shape and color of a sign without text. For example, you have to identify that a red octagon is a stop sign and a yellow pentagon indicates a school zone. At no point is your ability to read english tested so it's perfectly plausible that someone could obtain an NC drivers license and not understand a yellow flashing sign with text on it.

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

#144

Post by ctdonath »

josh_fyi wrote: post #56

Why not have a plastic flap hang down and thwack the top of the too-tall truck? Next, if that's ignored, a plywood barricade hanging down: Better some splintered plywood than a jammed tunnel.

Because nothing communicates "STOP" better than A GIANT F'ING RED GLOWING STOP SIGN AS BIG AS YOUR TRUCK RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE. ('shouting' to convey the brain-slamming scale of the message it communicates, not yelling at you.)

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

#145

Post by glanch »

brianbreslin wrote: post #123
twistedpair wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just need to remember that a small number of people are just not going to get it. Mostly truck drivers that are dead tired. That water screen does the trick because you're not expecting it. Signs, bumps, and noises are all common to highway driving. In Boston a few months ago a coach bus had the top ripped off going under a 10ft bridge on a road that truck/bus traffic is banned from. The driver hit several low ba…

we had a fatal bus crash at the Miami airport back in december due to the driver not heeding the signs . http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/04/3126826/details-emerge...

"When Miami-Dade Fire Rescue arrived five minutes and 10 seconds after the first emergency call, they began to pull passengers out of the window. Lopez, now out of gauze, told rescue workers that the victims were all Jehovah’s Witnesses, and couldn’t receive blood transfusions because of their faith."

Sigh.

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

#146

Post by PeterisP »

uptown wrote: post #73
lutze wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also easy to not see stuff when you're blind drunk. Both of these things are illegal, it's no excuse.

Not sure about Sydney, but there's no international law stating that you can't drive for 16 hours straight.

I was under the impression that all civilized countries do have such laws - the impact on accidents and fatalities is really huge.

Throughout almost all of Europe cargo haul & bus drivers hours are regulated (registrating devices at the vehicle + enforcement by traffic cops), and you can't take a truck across the continent w/o rest unless you swap drivers.

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

#147

Post by ricardobeat »

josh_fyi wrote: post #56

Why not have a plastic flap hang down and thwack the top of the too-tall truck? Next, if that's ignored, a plywood barricade hanging down: Better some splintered plywood than a jammed tunnel.

It can't hang down lower than the height limit. Trucks that are over by just a few inches will not even feel the hit, as seen in the other videos posted here.

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

#148

Post by numbsafari »

gojomo wrote: post #93
evan_ wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

The warning beam is several stopping-distances before the tunnel itself, and far easier to replace/reconstruct. I'd try a 3-stage contact-warning system: (1) hanging bar that makes noise on contact but causes little damage. This might even go before a suitable turn-off. (2) breakaway cord with trailing noisemakers. This would be torn from its mast by the collision, and drag noisy items behind, emphasizing the need to…

And yet, with this solution, no repair is needed for either the truck or the infrastructure.

The vehicle is able to be removed under its own power, the driver is not injured, there is no debris.

If you are in a vehicle behind a truck that has damage to its top, you very likely will have damage to your vehicle from flying debris.

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

#149

Post by FireBeyond »

ghjm wrote: post #108
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.

Sad, when the alternative is no device there, and the owner of the tunnel/bridge can sue the truck owner for damages.

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

#150

Post by ricardobeat »

marban wrote: post #121

I'm somewhat more impressed by this water screen than the iphone's retina display.

Water screens are very simple (and old) tech. It's just a perforated tube and a projector. This is much more interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gusJeslMbLc, but still a weekend project, not billion-dollar research :)
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