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The kind of storrowing we've been craving
By adamg on Mon, 07/27/2020 - 9:19am
Photo by Live Boston
Live Boston reports on one beaut of a storrowing, inbound around 7 a.m. in which another driver learned that Storrow bridges - in this case the Dartmouth Street footbridge - aren't getting out of your way and will shred you. State Police managed to get the peeled-back carcass onto Clarendon Street to await a tow.
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Comments
oooohhhhh, sooo satisfyin'!
The uniformity of the wrinkles, the sheer beauty of the physics involved (yes, I said "sheer"). In the words of CW McCall, "Sign says clearance to the twelve foot line, but the chickens was stacked to 13' 9"...took that top row of chickens off slicker'n scum off a Louisiana swamp." (Wolf Creek Pass)
[updated to clarify Roadman's comment below, h/t]
Top Shelf!
OMG ... that may be a PERFECT 10! They even nailed the landing (truck is upright), and the corrugations are amazingly tidy!
Brighton judge
On Twitter, as the Brighton Judge, I gave them a 9.5. Had they left a spew of debris, it would have been a 10.
No specific clearance
was posted on the entrance sign, and the trailer was road legal at 13.5
The entire length of Storrow
The entire length of Storrow Drive is posted Trucks Prohibited. The height limit for this truck, like all trucks, is zero.
Um, my comment was intended
as a pun on the lyric in Wolf Creek Pass just before the one that MrZip quoted.
However, since you brought it up. If the number and placement of signs are so perfect and attention getting, then why do so many overheight trucks continue to end up getting Storrowed?
Cell phones are a bitch
The same reason why people have collisions all the time. People drive distracted and/or ignore the roadway signs in favor of the map on their phone.
People have been taking the
People have been taking the tops off of trailers WAY before cell phones were a thing.
The reason why storrowing happens...
... is because people are stupid and make bad decisions.
Aha! I have an answer...
Most commercial vehicles are supposed to be using a commercial GPS for routing, where you fill in the length/height/weight/articulation of your setup so that it sends you onto routes which are compatible.
However, a untoward number of commercial drivers are using their personal cell phones for GPS; none of the "free" apps have any way of telling it that you're towing a 25 foot trailer, 12'9" high. And rental trucks (e.g., U-Haul, Penske) don't include such a device. I just checked my local U-Haul; they don't provide GPS, period.
Most of the drivers are paying more attention to the GPS than the signage. Or the bridges themselves.
And that's how you get these delivery trucks becoming sardine cans.
What part of "no trucks"
Is hard to understand?
With respect, what part of
undersized, inadequately placed, and non-standard signs is so hard to understand.
Assuming drivers should automatically know the restrictions for a particular roadway, as you so often profess, is an unrealistic view of the world. Which is why we have traffic signs, and established standards for those signs (which the DCR seems to mostly ignore), in the first place.
Unrealistic view of the world
Building roads for giant vehicles everywhere is unrealistic.
Truck drivers doing their job properly is realistic.
When you are being paid to drive a large vehicle, you are being paid to pay attention to large signs that say NO TRUCKS. It doesn't matter how standard they are. You are being paid to see them and read them and heed them.
Agree, ish...
Unquestionably, a great deal of the enjoyment here is rooted in pure Bostonian-ness, which says, If you don't know what street you're on, YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE. This is a commercial truck, not a rental: the renters can be forgiven but any commercial license holder? Knowing that you can't get there from here is BASIC info. Now, the clearance signs along Storrow are plentiful, and checking clearances is in top 5 commercial driver Things To Know, anywhere. That said, I'm agreeing-ish because Boston is, in generally, not user friendly, and we can assume the driver actually intended to end up somewhere like Stoughton.
Yes
Agreed to your comment ... but maybe shear?
absolute classic
I wish I could peel a potato that cleanly.
An official rating?
Is there a particular rubric which can be used to assess this Storrowing? Seems like a 9.0 at least, just missing side panels falling off and a debris field of cargo.
World Record Contender
For can opener style points, there is no parallel. That sweet, sweet rumpled peel off looks like a bridal train.
This is pure Storrowing satisfaction.
The judges must deduct points, however ...
Because the truck was mostly empty and so had no load to spill all over the roadway.
OTOH
Lack of a load that would have shifted upon impact, and thus bowed the trailer walls, was a likely reason the accordion effect when the roof peeled was so perfect.
Speaking of which, it's
Speaking of which, it's interesting to see how empty that truck was in the aerial shot. You know, in light of the ongoing conversation about banning large trucks in the city and the commenters who inevitably shriek "How will you get any of your consumer goods if they're not delivered using full-sized tractor-trailers????"
When the truck is emptied
it has to go back to its origin point for another load.
It's not empty, though. It
It's not empty, though. It looks like it's about 1/8 full.
Point taken.
However, it could be that they had already made most of their deliveries.
Don't kid yourself, there's a
Don't kid yourself, there's a ton of 1/20th full box trucks scooting around dropping off a box here and there. Companies send our their deliveries using whatever they've got on the lot, with little incentive to right-size their fleet vehicles. Say what your want about Amazon logistics but at least they are running vans instead of tractor trailers in the city.
Not for long...
Amazon has already started using large UPS/FedEx-style trucks.
What time does Kennedy blame...
Markey?
yesssss
Maybe I'm not the greatest Storrowing connoisseur around, but I personally have never seen a finer example.
Please do not fire this truck driver. Give him an award.
After this one Storrow should
After this one Storrow should get the Canopener Bridge title currently held by the 11foot8.com bridge.
As impressive as this was
Storrow still doesn't hold a candle to the 11foot8 bridge for number of total incidents throughout its history. Besides, the Storrow incidents all happen at different locations, whereas 11foot8 is a single bridge.
OT: Hard to argue with a
OT: Hard to argue with a @roadman
The Symetry Though! That's a Canopener opening a can right there.
Agreed
But one perfect incident does not a title make.