Railway bridges struck by road vehicles - merged topic, ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[stuving]

You may not have noticed that there were no trains on the District line into Richmond tonight, unless you happened to be there. Mortlake Road was closed all evening too, and this is why.

[JayMac]

Might need a cherry picker to inspect the bridge deck.

[TonyK]

Oh dear...

https://twitter.com/angleseycouncil/status/1050668694907453440?s=20

[Red Squirrel]

Reading the twitter thread, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would attempt to prove some sort of racist point by claiming that the Polish driver didn't speak any English... however, the driver may have found it confusing that the bridge clearance sign (a mandatory red circle) gave the height in US Customary units only. Isn't it rather shocking that in 2018 we still have signs in shillings and pebbles?

[TonyK]

Never mind English - what's the Polish for "Ildiwch i gerbydau s'yn dod atoch"? As Red Squirrel says, though, having the height sign in fahrenheit groats might not have helped.

[stuving]

Reading the twitter thread, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would attempt to prove some sort of racist point by claiming that the Polish driver didn't speak any English... however, the driver may have found it confusing that the bridge clearance sign (a mandatory red circle) gave the height in US Customary units only. Isn't it rather shocking that in 2018 we still have signs in shillings and pebbles?

That certainly doesn't help, but you'd expect anyone sending a vehicle to Britain to provide the necessary conversion for the vehicle height. But that probably would not have made any difference - the vehicle was heading south towards the A55, and made it under the bridge. It was the load, presumably picked up locally, the was overheight. So who loaded it and measured its height? A wrong height entered into a Satnav that was itself working fine looks a more likely explanation.

[Bmblbzzz]

Gamoń! As distinct from gammon. A right multilingual fowl up there, with Polish truck and driver, French sign (on lorry), Welsh and English. But could (perhaps) all have been alright with different digits.

[TonyK]

I expect the poor Polish chap will ultimately have to carry the can, although the insurance claim will be a lawyer's delight. It was hardly a glancing blow.

[Clan Line]

Isn't it rather shocking that in 2018 we still have signs in shillings and pebbles?

I don't think it is shocking at all - more like common sense, as "shillings and pebbles" are much more sensible units.  Both the meter and the kilogramme are too big for many purposes. Many years ago there was an attempt to get the aviation industry to use the meter as the unit of aircraft altitude - this was roundly rejected by the aviation industry as being too coarse. The metrication zealots went away saying that would be back with a suitable metric unit - we are still waiting for that one !!
I spent some time in Paris when my aunt lived there and can clearly remember the "livre" (pound/half a kilo) being widely used for foodstuff.
There was an item on the Today programme only last week about how widely used feet, inches and stones, lbs and oz still are - even by people who have only been taught the metric system during their school time.
Indeed, I have in front of me as I type, a birth announcement card from my No2 daughter announcing the arrival of a 7lb 10oz girl !

[ellendune]

Reading the twitter thread, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would attempt to prove some sort of racist point by claiming that the Polish driver didn't speak any English... however, the driver may have found it confusing that the bridge clearance sign (a mandatory red circle) gave the height in US Customary units only. Isn't it rather shocking that in 2018 we still have signs in shillings and pebbles?

I am quite happy for people to buy their shopping in pounds and ounces, but to only have key information like bridge heights in feet and inches looks like stupidity. Not only are foreign drivers unfamiliar with such units, but so our many of our own young generations.

Also don't ask me to do any engineering design in such antiquated units.  However I am quite happy to read a metric drawing and pass the information to the person doing the work in ft and inches if they wish. Did it so much in my early career that I can do common sizes from memory.

The worst case I have come across recently was an American textbook that used a mixture of litres, cubic feet per second, gallons (US) per hour on the same page. How they make anything that works is a miracle! The few high profile mistake must be the tip of the iceberg!       

[didcotdean]

Altitude in aviation is specified in the ICAO documents to be in metres, but these also recognise this isn't the current de facto situation and hence allows feet until an agreed changeover date can be agreed. This has never been set, and don't expect it to be any time soon if ever, mainly because of safety concerns the transition might cause. China and North Korea do presently use metres, Russia did until a few years ago, and for that matter so did continental Europe prior to the Second World War.

There is a similar difference in specification of wind speeds, specified as meters per second rather than knots, and atmospheric pressure in hectopascals rather than mmHg. Nearly all countries have transitioned on the latter though.

[Red Squirrel]

Both the meter and the kilogramme are too big for many purposes.

Makes you wonder how the vast majority of people on the planet cope, doesn't it

I don't normally make a big thing of spellings - with two dyslexic children, it doesn't do - but I feel the need to point out that here in Europe we have metres, not meters. 

[Oxonhutch]

As an inch is defined as 25.4 millimetres exactly, the length of the foot is defined by size of the metre - which used to be that object kept in Paris!

So it's a kind of metric measure

[martyjon]

Both the meter and the kilogramme are too big for many purposes.

Makes you wonder how the vast majority of people on the planet cope, doesn't it

I don't normally make a big thing of spellings - with two dyslexic children, it doesn't do - but I feel the need to point out that here in Europe we have metres, not meters. 

Electricity meters, Gas meters, come off it, Water metres too, I got all three to look at.   

[Clan Line]

I don't normally make a big thing of spellings - with two dyslexic children, it doesn't do - but I feel the need to point out that here in Europe we have metres, not meters. 

Here in Great Britain we have the freedom to spell it either way.............