Know your height and pay attention

[Freep]

During our eclipse trip we were driving in Wyoming and there are a number of low railroad bridges. I normally would have noticed but I was starting to get tired and I almost went under a short railroad bridge like this.

Luckily my wife was paying attention and we stopped short and did the backup of shame away from the bridge. When I looked under the bridge I could see the evidence of many others before me who didn't stop short.

15 seconds of inattention can ruin a trip. Sometimes there are nice flashing signs telling you that you are too tall and to turn now, but too often it's just a sign or two.

[Rubiranch]

jfkmk wrote:
Thanks for about 20 minutes of entertaining you-tube watching! I wonder if the folks who only lost their a/c units even knew it until they got to their destination.

I was wondering the same thing - some of them didn't even slow down

[SidecarFlip]

Only thing I have in carbon fiber is a couple rifle stocks and those aren't gonna hit a low bridge...

[work2much]

Years ago when I managed a bicycle store I sold a couple carbon fiber bikes (over $10,000 for the pair) and roof rack to a couple who drove straight home into their carport. and destroyed their brand new bikes and damaged their Volvo.

I almost ran into a low bridge. I missed the warning at the start of a long road, but didn't miss the sign on the bridge. That was a close one. At the time we had our brand new Bigfoot.

[SideHillSoup]

Yup, always in the back of my mind how tall I am when driving down the road. I'm lucky when I went to school here in Canada we were just switching over to the metric system so I can flip back and forth in metric and standered meseurments.
Here is a easy conversation table so help if any of you plan on traveling to Canada.
Feet to Meters

Soup.

[dfletch]

Well I am 13'3" tall so I just round up to the max of 13'6" and drive like I am a tractor trailer.

[Trackrig]

We were back East with the DP this summer and was sort of aggravated with their road signage. Twice we wanted to take a road from point A to point B. After turning onto the road they had signs stating Low Bridge 11'. There was no way we were going to make that so it's unhook the Jeep, find a place to turn around the DP, then hook back up again and find another route.

Both times after talking to locals, there wasn't a Low Bridge going from A to B, the Low Bridge was on a smaller side road branching off to point C. We wasted a lot of miles and time on signage that really wasn't correct. The signs should have been up at the branch going to point C.

Bill

[Reddog1]

If you see that it could even be close, beware. Years ago I worked with a house moving company. We encountered more than one road that had been resurfaced and the clearance signs had not been changed.

My TCs highest point is 10'3". If it were close to 13'6" I would consider some kind of a portable height indicator I could mount on the front of the truck, maybe a CB antenna on an extension.

Wayne

[stevenal]

http://11foot8.com/

[SidecarFlip]

I've seen bridges in Metro Chicago that were 10' high.... Chicago is noted for low underpasses.... One reason I have a P'up. clearance is not an issue. My old Lance on my truck was 13' to the top of the ac unit.

I bet the closest shop to the underpass in the video makes a fortune repairing those 'close encounters'....lol

[Mike_Taverniti]

I have my height posted on my 5 th Wheel on each side of front and on pin box. See at least 1 of them every time I look in my mirrors. Always reminded.

[Freep]

jfkmk wrote:
Thanks for about 20 minutes of entertaining you-tube watching! I wonder if the folks who only lost their a/c units even knew it until they got to their destination.

I was wondering the same thing. If they had a radio blaring they may not have noticed. I know I can hear plates falling from the cabinet in the camper, but if it was a TT, I can see where you could lose an AC and not notice.

[Kayteg1]

On my previous conversion, even it was less than 12' tall - PO had engraved plate riveted to the dashboard telling the height.
Looking at the video - only about 1 of 10 drivers of tall trucks slow down before low overpass.
Others were probably texting.

[bighatnohorse]

At 11'9" my camper would not clear that bridge.
What I don't know off the top of my head is how tall my camper is in meters.
(3.58 meters)
In our travels we sometimes encounter old bridges - weight limits are important too.

[jfkmk]

Thanks for about 20 minutes of entertaining you-tube watching! I wonder if the folks who only lost their a/c units even knew it until they got to their destination.

[Dave_Pete]

My problem is remembering, after learning the height.

I wrote the figure on a sticky label and stuck it on the inside of the glove box door.

The video you included brought to mind the CW McCall lyrics,

We shot that tunnel at a hundred and ten, like gas from a funnel and eggs from a hen, we took that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp.