The drawbridge Shirley

[Mal in Somerset]

There was an incident today at the drawbridge. A boater operated the automatic procedure for opening the bridge. However a car jumped the lights and got stuck between the barrier and the bridge resulting in the counter balance landing on the car roof and shattering the sunroof. The car driver tried to blame the incident on the boater leading to a great deal of stress

on both parts. Calls to the Cart emergency number were unanswered. I would advise everyone using the bridge to exercise extreme caution.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Mal in Somerset

[Scholar Gypsy]

Last time I was there someone had put superglue in the lock cylinder. Is there not an emergency stop button on the control panel?

[Keeping Up]

Nothing new there, back in the days when you raised it by winding a winch with a windlass I put a counterweight-shaped dent in the roof of a car that had come past the stop line.

[frangar]

Well I hope it dented the car! My OH has had quite a lot of abuse at that bridge in the past for daring to open it for a boat!...mind you she gives as good as a Clyde welder.....don't think the lad in car was expecting that from a woman.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

[MoominPapa]

Calls to the Cart emergency number were unanswered.

The CRT emergency number took 20 minutes to answer at four this morning. (See the "banging on the T&M" thread) so I don't give much hope of a timely response when people are awake. OTOH, I did eventually get someone from CRT who knew what they were talking about, rather than an ambulance control centre which used to be the case.

 

MP.

[Peter X]

As I remember it from operating a few of these on the K&A last month, the boater holds a button down all through the process, and the safety mechanism is that letting go will stop the machinery where it is. Are there different mechanisms on other canals? That wouldn't surprise me.

[Mal in Somerset]

You put the key in then press the open button. Then afterwards press the close button. There is an emergency stop button but that relies on the operator being alerted to a problem. The time between the barriers going down and the car getting crunched was about 5 seconds.

[RLWP]

You put the key in then press the open button. Then afterwards press the close button. There is an emergency stop button but that relies on the operator being alerted to a problem. The time between the barriers going down and the car getting crunched was about 5 seconds.

Plus the time with the lights flashing before the barrier starts to descend.

 

Richard

[Mal in Somerset]

The driver tried to claim the lights weren't working!!!!!

[Little Else]

We've had several drivers jump the lights at this bridge. We keep a camera handy. They don't understand that it's all automatic, I'll let the barrier go down on them but I haven't yet started to lift the bridge with them still on it!

[john6767]

Not yet had anyone jump the lights, but had some very impatient behaviour between the two front cars as to who goes first when the brige is closed. The important thing with this bridge is unless you live at one of the houses just the other side there are alternative routes that you can take, you do not need to go that way. So their choice to use the bridge. I live locally and in 15 years I don't think I have driven over it more than half a dozen times, certainly less times than I have been through it by boat.

[Peter X]

Are the drivers up in Solihull an impatient lot then? So far I've only encountered these boater-operated road bridges on one trip along the eastern half of the K&A, but the nearest thing I noticed to any trouble was that I heard one beep of a horn which seemed as if it was coming from a nearby side road junction, not the bridge itself. I thought those Berkshire drivers were quite chilled out.

 

It's their problem, but in the absence of traffic lights wouldn't it be the convention that whichever vehicle was first to arrive after the bridge was closed would be first to cross afterwards if it's one-way, followed by everyone behind them? Maybe the drivers john6767 observed both declared they'd got there first.

[Victor Vectis]

There was an incident today at the drawbridge. A boater operated the automatic procedure for opening the bridge. However a car jumped the lights and got stuck between the barrier and the bridge resulting in the counter balance landing on the car roof and shattering the sunroof. The car driver tried to blame the incident on the boater leading to a great deal of stress

on both parts. Calls to the Cart emergency number were unanswered. I would advise everyone using the bridge to exercise extreme caution.

I've had a car jumping the lights and trying to cross the bridge three times!

 

On one occasion the driver said it was my fault as "You could see I was on the bridge when you started to lift it"

Trying to tell him it was all automatic and all I did was to press the button to start the sequence was to no avail.

 

I would recommend a taking a camera with you when navigating through this bridge (but be prepared for drivers to get a tad vexed when you take a pic of their car being raised by the bridge)

You put the key in then press the open button. Then afterwards press the close button. There is an emergency stop button but that relies on the operator being alerted to a problem. The time between the barriers going down and the car getting crunched was about 5 seconds.

But there are red lights that flash before the barriers come down.

 

Any car that gets hit by the barriers or raised by the bridge has jumped the lights.

Plus the time with the lights flashing before the barrier starts to descend.

 

Richard

As my learned friend has already quoted, m'lud.

[RLWP]

Any car that gets hit by the barriers or raised by the bridge has jumped the lights.

 

And presumably committed a driving offence

 

Richard

 

MORE: You must stop: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/312214/the-highway-code-light-signals-controlling-traffic.pdf

 

YET MORE: Regulation 39: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/312214/the-highway-code-light-signals-controlling-traffic.pdf. I'm still not clear what the offence is

 

AND FINALLY: Failing to comply with traffic light signals. TS10, three points on your license: https://www.confused.com/car-insurance/articles/motoring-conviction-codes

Edited August 17, 2015 by RLWP