Hey, there! Log in / Register
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
HHAHAHAHAH!!!!!
HHAHAHAHAH!!!!!
"Our Low Decks Make Your Move EASIER!!!!!!!!!!!"
Yer Mom's Attic!
Yer Mom's Attic!
hmm
i guess yall dont know what a deck is
Low decks?
Not low enough...
Conflicted
I shouldn't be sympathetic for someone who crashes INTO the low clearance sign but... Things are only going to get worse for them. If they were coming from someplace far away (without cars-only underpasses) and they aren't used to driving a truck they might have [foolishly] overlooked the cars-only signs and forgotten they were in a big vehicle. Now they'll be stuck with a charge that no insurance will cover.
Still their fault and all....
Nah
Always go for 100% accident protection for rentals.
Might not help
Apparently the insurance riders offered by these companies (assuming they paid for it) specifically exclude damage caused by low clearance mishaps. Most personal policies don't cover rental trucks. AKA they're screwed.
I've rented a box truck
For the occasional Allston Christmas in my life. If you get the full waiver they don't even look at the truck when you return it.
I've had a similar (less damage to truck though) mishap.
I drove a u-haul into a low-hanging stairwell. I had the full insurance. It very much did not cover damage from the unfortunate incident. They have an itemized list of things that can get broken with fixed prices for each one. It was about $700 to fix the truck.
It's explicitly stated in the contract for the insurance that overhead collisions are not covered.
Classic Storrowing
We've seen any number of professional and local entrants of late, but this looks like a classic graduate student move storrowing. That's gotta hurt.
Does Google put disclaimers on their map directions? Maybe they do and I've just ignored it like everyone else ...
That was my thinking
No excuse for a professional or local but I'd cut a relocating grad student some slack.
I've never seen the Android version of google maps indicate low clearance or have a truck setting.
I just sent
A map notification to Google about Storrow. Who knows if they'll do anything.
Thanks
That's very kind of you.
Thank you.
Regarding Google. As a
Regarding Google. As a regional moderator (there are a couple of us in the Boston area) I help approve business changes as well as road and path designations, edits, and additions. Unfortunately there is no truck option or low clearance option, I can do speed limits, bike/ped info, sidewalks, parking lot designation etc.
Open Streets Map does have a height attribute but not Google...I believe it is in cue as a feature request so we will likely get it at some point but no time soon unfortunately...
John
+1
Thanks! That was highly informative!
double your comment
double your fun!
I feel like the whole google maps/GIS thing is missing the point
Adding alerts for low clearance to google maps / waze or whatever would be great and all, but regardless of where you're getting your directions from, I'm fairly certain that you're still supposed to read the giant goddamn road signs that say "Cars Only" / "No trucks" / "10'0" clearance" etc.
Forget Google
Get OsmAnd. It's free, and ad-free, and does not use the Internet, just your phone's GPS. It has an option that lets you set the height limit for routes, so it would not send your box truck onto Storrow if you configured it right.
Also, it does not send every possible bit of information about you and your travels to a giant corporation that then sells the bits to somebody else...
Forget OsmAnd
I downloaded it and set up a route.
It wanted me to drive off the end of my dead-end street to get to a street that does not exist.
Then it wants me to get to I-93 by heading up Rt. 60 through Medford Square (creep and crawl), take a right over the bridge, take another right to merge onto Rt. 16 Westbound and then IMMEDIATELY U-TURN through a barrier to get to i-93.
Never mind that I can get to that point directly by going down Rt. 38 to make a left on Rt. 16 without doing impossible and illegal and ill-advised things.
Thank goodness I know where I'm going and was just testing this!!!
Sad Trombone Dot Com
But thanks for the review
No better warning?
Why not suspend a bigass sign just above the height of the underpasses, with strong warning language about the height restriction? Make it hinged, and if a tall truck bumps it, have a siren go off, with a bank of flashing STOP lights further up. Build a dedicated pull-off with a gate that opens when the siren sounds, and an exit to some other road.
There is a hanging sign. You
There is a hanging sign. You have to hit that first...
warning device
The State tried installing infrared detectors with electric warning signs at various spots on Storrow and Soldiers Field Rd. Problem is they got warn down and broken by normal wear and weather.
To people un-used to driving
To people un-used to driving trucks, I always wonder if they actually saw the "cars only" sign but mistook it to mean something like "no bicycles/pedestrians/horses" (as in "motor vehicles only" rather than "no trucks").
Obviously professionals driving commercial vehicles should understand the meaning of these signs.
Obviously professionals
Show me what Federal standard these homemade looking "Cars Only" signs appear in, and where on the CDL exam these signs are covered. Not to mention they aren't even the correct colors for a regulatory message (should be black on reflective white, not non-reflective pale orange on non-reflective black).
It continues to amaze me how people can continue to be so ignorant to the simple but vital concept of fabricating and placing STANDARD signs properly advising of these restrictions at locations BEFORE drivers have a chance to enter the highway, and not after they've already committed to it. While the clearance in the Big Dig tunnels isn't as low as along Storrow Drive, Mass/Highway/MassDOT seems to understand that concept with the signs they posted at the entrances from surface streets to the O'Neill tunnel. And spare me the standard DCR "but it's really a parkway" BS - it's NOT a legitimate excuse for not posting adequate signing.
Explain why a professional
... would ignore a sign because it wasn't standard?
"Oh, gee, not a standard sign in my sign manual! I guess that means there aren't any low clearance bridges ahead! They must not want trucks there, because non-obscure-standard signs aren't real. Yeah. I'm going to just keep on driving, because 10' 0" clearance isn't a problem if the sign on a local road meets a local or grandfathered standard and I won't hit the top of my truck! Because I'm a professional!"
Do you seriously think that truck drivers know the difference?
I would bet that if you showed a bunch of CDL holders signs that were and were not standard, they would not likely be able to tell you which were officially official federally official federal signs and which were grandfathered state route signs.
But what does "cars only" mean, anyway?
And why would the driver of a commercial truck look at that sign and not think "oh, that means I can drive my truck on that road"?
overhead signage
The signs were borrowed from the toll booths - same signs used.
Ouch!
Ouch!
Accurate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUHf6rklYCg
Make Storrow a surface street once and for all!
Lose the pedestrian overpasses. Put in landscaping and cross walks. Open the Esplanade back up to the city.
Add access to the Pike.
Geez, put a damn monorail or tram there with a huge parking lot at rail yards in Allston.
Make it go away. It's an abomination.
Would the monorail go
Would the monorail go everywhere people in cars on Storrow are going? Would it run 24 hours?
No Storrow would still go everywhere it curently does, 24/7
Just at a much slower speed and with integration with the streets and sidewalks of the Back Bay.
Any public transport would be to provide alternatives to cars along Storrow. That's the whole point.
Open the Esplanade back up and revert Storrow from being a highway.
Modify the Pike
And that wouldn't be a problem.
And most important of all...
What about us brain-dead slobs?
Brain dead slobs?
You will all get cushy jobs!
That's the beauty, Scratchie
Anyone, including slobs, will get to enjoy the river and park views, and the grand boulevard and new public spaces at a leisurely pace.
In a hurry to get somewhere? Take the highway not the parkway.
Leave it there as a warning to others
If it's already gone, leave the one that will crash there on Monday
Put its head
on a stake.
Restart the pool
So, this isn't fair. We need to restart the pool, because as Kevin Bacon said, "you gotta have rules and you gotta have discipline". When is the official kickoff, and where do we place our entries?
Soldiers Field Road?
Was this technically on Storrow? It looks more like Soldiers Field Road. Does that even count?
students are back
at my univ they are all back and classes have already started.. so i wouldnt say its early
Goes without saying the
Goes without saying the driver is always responsible for the vehicle. So whether youre local or out of town you still need to check your clearance - especially if you've never rented a big truck before.
HOWEVER
1. I rented a UHaul 2 years ago from the Central Sq location for a Brighton-to-Somerville move. I asked Uhaul for a recommended route. I wasnt even sure if the truck was restricted from certain small roads due to its size, nevermind *Beware of Storrow Drive*. They didnt give me any answer, paperwork or maps showing me what roads to avoid. The staff I dealt with looked barely old enough to drive.
2. There should be height clearance warnings at exits points before the any low overpass. There are some spots on Storrow (and other bridges in town) where this doesnt happen.
Unfortunately the insurance
Unfortunately the insurance you take out with Uhaul DOESN'T cover that.
So the renter is on the hook for the damages.
But if this happens to you, check with your car insurance. A lot of them will cover it and you will only need to pay the deductible.
Or you can simply tell Uhaul to screw and the worst they can do is never rent to you again.