During these dark Covid 19 times we all need a good laugh.
11' 8" is a funny YouTube channel which chronicles the misfortunes of trucks attempting to drive under a low bridge. The clearance of the bridge is 11 feet 8 inches.
(Don't be confused if some videos say 12' 4". In later videos the bridge has been raised to 12’ 4”. Trucks still run into it.)
Maybe it is funny to me because I have a CDL license, or maybe it is all the warning signs. There are many. You would think one would suffice. There are signs, flashing lights, and even a flashing displaying that comes on if a truck is too tall saying, “OVER HEIGHT MUST TURN”.
Enjoy!
PS: I have a CDL license. I often drove CDL grip trucks years ago.
Driving a truck out-of-town, on unfamiliar roads, you know the height of your truck and watch for clearances. You hear about grip trucks running into low bridges. It was something I was always concerned about.
The height clearance is posted on bridges and underpasses. Many times, I came up to an underpass/bridge and had to drive around because my truck was too high, or too close to the posted height to take a chance.
Years ago, I was on a shoot in a rural part of Kentucky. It was a long drive to get to our location on country roads. At wrap, a local told me a short cut to the highway. I drove on a small curvy country road for about a half-hour and came to a railway underpass. I was almost to the highway. I could see it down the road. There was no height posted on the bridge. I pulled the truck up to it and got out to look at the height. (It was that kind of country road. I don’t recall any traffic.) It looked like it might fit, but I wasn’t sure.
I did the only thing I could do. I turned around and went back the way I came. My “shortcut” added at least an hour to my driving time! Funny.
PPS: There is a notorious low bridge on the University of Louisville Campus. I was driving a grip truck down a street near it when all these flashing lights came on telling me to stop. I stopped and then realized I was okay. My location was before the bridge.
I was impressed with the system. It detects when a truck is too tall and warning lights start flashing.
About mid-way through our day, there was a commotion down the street. You guessed it. A semi-truck had ignored the signs and flashing lights (how?) and got stuck under the bridge. Too funny.
PPPS: While I was working on “How It Ends” in Winnipeg, Day 1 of the movie, a production assistant (PA), just a young college kid, drove a production truck under a low bridge and took the roof off it.
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| It's a convertible now! |
That was kind-of-funny, but they fired the PA. I felt bad for the kid. To me, it is productions fault if you have a young kid driving a truck and something happens. They should have a Teamster driving the truck (or in Winnipeg, oddly to me, the studio mechanics drove them).
Whomever had a young PA driving the truck should have been fired. But that’s the way life works sometimes. Those not responsible take the blame and those responsible do not.
Also if you fire everyone that makes an honest mistake, there would be no one left on the crew!
PPPPS: It is no stretch to call production assistants, PAs, the hardest working, poorest paid, and least appreciated people on a set. Here is a good story about PAs fighting back against poor treatment: