Bridges with no height sign

One perk of being a car hauler is we all carry height sticks.
When I’m in doubt it’s 4 ways on and then I pull out my height stick and then I know...

 

Also for the record there’s a bridge 3 miles from my house in upstate NY that is marked 11ft 9in yet a 13ft 6 in clears it easily and I routinely go over it with my car hauler.

 

Who "always" says that ??

 

It's something I learned in school. The law is (at least its supposed to be) a shield, as much as it is a sword. You've never heard that? I hear it fairly regularly. Not that I totally ever believed it. But does seem fair... being the law and all. We are expected to follow it to the T. But when they #### up, we are expected to know better and react appropriately.

 

Yes it is, but in the 90s I tagged a railbridge unmarked behind a marked roadbridge, the upload wouldn't let a 53 ft through, so even though it was unmarked I still got a preventable, what dot said was because your a professional driver you should have expected the possible danger and reacted appropriately. Like I could stop a 80,000 lb truck in less than half a trucklength. So legally they are supposed to be marked, but if they mess up we are supposed to somehow compensate for them.

 

It's like this: If there is no sign, or the sign is unreadable...it's your fault if you end up spam-canning your trailer. When in doubt, you'd better check.

The only saving grace is when the sign is incorrect, ie; you're scratching your head in confusion over how that bridge that read 13'10" tore the top off your 13'6" box. Otherwise, it's all gonna be on you. Better to hold up traffic for a couple of minutes creeping under a suspect clearance than for a few hours while the guys with the funny lights on their cars get everything sorted out.

 

Btw ment upslope on road, not upload,

 

New York had a variation on that.

Woman comes running out in apparent distress. You the knight stop right there and see about helping.

That might be the very last thing you do on this earth. When the woman comes running I take a heavy J turn and get out of dodge. People are already trying to get up on catwalk.

I say this. Many years later we go into NYC and somehow they really cleaned that up but the 80's was a difficult time. I remember one tractor we unbolted the big shiny grab bars from the sides, they were a liability. (Never mind the idea leads to modern trucks with no iron on the sides today...)

Regarding the bridge, if it's not marked it's probably lawful height. But examine the bottom lip for damage, examine the pavement for rubber and so on. I have said several times the antennas at 13.5ish know when it's too low. I remember one bridge near Horseheads that is particularly tight some days depending on how my suspension was doing. I never got stuck on that one but it was a real possibility.

 

I've ran into that twice before, once in NY and another time somewhere else. Was a bit confused put on my 4 ways and slowly but gently entered. I was going so slow I seen other truckers just drive right thru, I guess they already knew what was up. Allways read those #### signs and play it cautiously. Can never be too safe.