Sydney tunnel water screen stop sign for oversized vehicles [video] • Hacker News Board

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

#201

Post by EliRivers » Wed, May 15, 2013, 10:07 AM UTC

fab13n wrote: post #179

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…

That's the beauty of the metal bar 10m before the tunnel: they won't fail to notice when it acts as a can opener on their truck's cabin, and it only costs a metal bar in public infrastructure (plus towing a cabriolet truck out of the way)

Violently ripping off the top of the actual cabin at speed sound like a way to have a good go at killing the driver.

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

#202

Post by gambiting » Wed, May 15, 2013, 2:06 PM UTC

koenigdavidmj wrote: post #199

gambiting wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You mean, 'I don't know, I closed it.'

Yes, that happens as well.

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

#203

Post by Freestyler_3 » Wed, May 15, 2013, 4:52 PM UTC

bigiain wrote: post #190

Freestyler_3 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something that causes the vehicles engine to stop... a shock? It wouldn't stop the vehicle but it will decrease destructive force. Or a trapdoor (warning this is a joke disregard it if you know you don't like jokes)

(intentionally ignoring joke warning…) Excellent plan! A trapdoor! In the harbour tunnel! Relevant anecdote: My Dad worked for the company who built the fire control system in the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. It's got (from fuzzy memory - numbers not guaranteed accurate) 128 sectors of "deluge valves". It's got pumps capable of keeping up with only 10 of those sectors of deluge valves - more than 10 sectors of valves open…

Yes, I hope though that the pressure on the writer of that software was enough to make him check thoroughly for errors.

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

#204

Post by dlhavema » Wed, May 15, 2013, 7:42 PM UTC

Kluny wrote: post #42

dlhavema wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

signs and "plackards" go ignored all the time. i worked in a computer lab and had to put up signs when things were broken ( internet, printer, etc.. ) and we always got people ignoring them...

"Placards" is the word you're looking for. Yeah, nobody likes reading, and even when they do, they assume that they can disregard the signs if they have a good reason - such as, they reaaaally want to. At some point you have to accept this, do some A/B testing and find the way to actually get people's attention. For instance, a WET PAINT sign will be ignored. But "This paint was wet at 8:32 AM, please do not touch ti…

I have to agree.. thanks for the reply I guess i never thought of that while i worked there, i just kept thinking "why don't they read the signs...", we did try a few different ones, and also made them 2 feet from the door sometimes, but it was still ultimately our responsibility to inform them of whatever the situation was..

@placards: i figured i spelled that wrong, thanks

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

#205

Post by twistedpair » Fri, May 17, 2013, 5:21 PM UTC

sa5 wrote: post #143

twistedpair wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pe…

Touche. I worked at BrightLeaf Sq next to this bridge for a few years. While the wording might be different across languages, all the aforementioned nations use Arabic numerals to my knowledge, so "11.7ft" would mean the same to them, I'd hope.

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

#206

Post by twistedpair » Fri, May 17, 2013, 5:22 PM UTC

wizzard wrote: post #136

twistedpair wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's interesting and seems like a good idea, except perhaps it should be paramount that the 20-ton beam NOT fall on the following cars! That is an entirely different meaning of "sacrificial"...

See the videos on 11foot8.com, that beam is a freestanding structure separate from the bridge solely designed to decapitate trucks.