Low Bridges

[gypsydan]

It is always important to be VERY careful when a[[roaching a bridge, as seen by the many videos on this website showing what happens when you're not paying attention. Taken in Durham, NC.

http://11foot8.com/

[NJTroy]

The link takes you to a pass through for a game app. Surely, not what you were trying for?

 

ETA: And now it works just fine. Odd.

[bigjim]

NJTroy, thats not what I got from the link. I got the truck running under the low bridge. I have seen it many times before. Not that one but a couple of others elsewhere I saw in person were pretty startling.

[scouserl41]

^{What's important is to know exactly how tall YOUR rig is and look at the clearance marking before you go under the bridge. That bridge has signs and even flashing lights to warn people but they still go under it!}

^{Oh yes another thing. If you are going to Mexico or Canada you better know what it is in meters too!!}

^BnB

[The Few]

Hello good People, Do they make GPS's that are designed to warn RVers or truckers of low Bridges??

 

Something like this would certainly tighten up my "butt cheeks", if I am driving a 13'6" tall HDTRV hauler or hauling a 13' 6" tall 5th wheel trailer!!!

[SWharton]

We loaded onto our GPS Low Bridges and set the warning at quite a distance. Works well except it warns when we over a low bridge also. In this instance I think extra warnings are fine.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

 

Hello good People, Do they make GPS's that are designed to warn RVers or truckers of low Bridges??

There are a couple of version of Garmins designed for trucks that are height knowledgable. We use ALK CoPilot truck GPS software that is designed to route trucks away from low bridges, tight turns, and light bridges.

[griffinmike]

This video has been around for a long time.

[bigjim]

One thing that can and does happen sometimes is they retop the road under the bridge or overpass and fail to change the sign. Or people that use the road are so used to clearing they don't pay attention to the change. Kinda like my dad when I was a teen. They put up a stop sign on a corner that wasn't a 4 way stop in all our lives. He was a very careful driver but he ran it twice before my brother asked if he was going to stop at it this time. Fun giving dad grief for HIS driving for a change.

[scouserl41]

The Rand McNally RV unit lets you set the height of your rig and won't route you on roads with less clearance.

That doesn't mean you can just ignore all the signs! It's still up to you to know what your clearance is and check before you go under an obstruction.

BnB

[Star Dreamer]

Don't trust a GPS to read signs. There was a news article a few years ago about a bus driver that was following the route his GPS said to go and hit a bridge that was clearly marked on the bridge and on signs leading up to it. Our GPS will tell us to make a left hand turn at a place that has a nice wall in the way between us an oncoming traffic and you should be doing a right hand looping turn and go under the highway.

[GlennWest]

Had several gps over the years. Only ones that had a height setting in them were trucker units and rv units.

[KodiakJack]

This site has been redesigned so I am no longer familiar with it. Low clearance information is still available there though. Take the link and then click on the "Information" tap where you will find the information by state and highway for low clearance, rest stops, etc.

Good luck and stay low.

Later,

J

http://aitaonline.com/

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

While there are places to lookup online low clearances, that doesn't help you when you are moving and make a wrong turn or have to deal with a detour.

 

A height knowledgeable GPS monitors the situation as you move.

 

I value the fiberglass roof of my truck and the solar panels and air conditioner on my trailer. I spend the money for good height knowledgeable GPS systems.

[JC and Angie]

While there are places to lookup online low clearances, that doesn't help you when you are moving and make a wrong turn or have to deal with a detour.

 

A height knowledgeable GPS monitors the situation as you move.

 

I value the fiberglass roof of my truck and the solar panels and air conditioner on my trailer. I spend the money for good height knowledgeable GPS systems.

The down side to GPS is they are only good for the interstate or state highways. When we pull off on to side roads to go to a state park in say South Carolina and you look up to trees with rub marks from delivery truck and your gps says " don't have a clue" that's when your pucker factor goes way up. Don't ask why I know this.

 

JC

[Working Tourists]

Don't trust a GPS to read signs. There was a news article a few years ago about a bus driver that was following the route his GPS said to go and hit a bridge that was clearly marked on the bridge and on signs leading up to it.

 

That was the double-decker Megabus crash in Liverpool, NY. Four people died. The driver missed an exit on the Interstate and was trying to double back to his stop. Unfortunately, he was using a GPS made for cars, not larger vehicles. And he somehow missed many oversized, brightly colored warning signs, flashing lights, and numerous warnings painted on the pavement - not to mention a two foot wide red reflector stripe that runs along the bottom of the bridge itself.

 

Not surprisingly, the most popular seats are the ones in the front on the upper level. At least one of those people were was completely decapitated. It gives me the horrors to think that they were awake and watching that bridge come at them, unable to do anything about it.

 

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/at_least_two_dead_possibly_mor.html

 

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/02/judge_hears_gruesome_testimony.html

 

 

* edited for grammatical error

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

 

The down side to GPS is they are only good for the interstate or state highways.

I guess you missed the "height knowledgeable" qualifier.

 

Like it or not, almost everything everything is delivered by trucks. That means there are routes that are high enough clearances for semis to virtually every where. Truck GPS units are not cheap because the cost of acquiring the clearance data is high. It is amazing that even small roads are covered by truck GPS units. If the truck GPS doesn't know the clearance of a road, it won't route you there.

 

All those stories of GPS routing a truck into a low bridge resulted from a driver using a car GPS because it was cheaper. And cheap is a classic RV decision.

[chirakawa]

The down side to GPS is they are only good for the interstate or state highways.

 

I've owned at least a dozen gps units over the years. Every one of them has had roads right down to the smallest pig trail on them, including park roads of every State Park I've been in. Are they perfect? No, but they definitely had county and city roads and streeets and even private roads.

[scouserl41]

I once set my old Garmin to avoid highways. It then routed me onto dirt roads instead!! Luckily I was on my motorcycle and not in an RV.

I have friends who have ridden coast to coast on dirt bikes using GPS to completely avoid paved roads.

Truck and RV specific GPS units have height data included in them and also dirt roads. I occasionally get a message on my Rand McNally "This route includes X number of yards of dirt roads" when approaching campgrounds.

BnB

[hdonlybob]

When I had my HDT, I had a decal made showing the height of the Volvo, as well as the camper, and it was in the top inside of the windshield...I also added a few inches to the actual dimensions.

It worked very well, and saved me a bundle one time in particular when I came upon a bridge that had no warning before it, just on the bridge...and I would have been close to a full foot over..

Had to back up for about four blocks, but sure glad I had that little decal up there

Cheers,

Bob

[JC and Angie]

I've owned at least a dozen gps units over the years. Every one of them has had roads right down to the smallest pig trail on them, including park roads of every State Park I've been in. Are they perfect? No, but they definitely had county and city roads and streeets and even private roads.

I have a garmin trucker GPS. Less than two years old. And it will route me just fine, but when I hit a city road or ??? It simply says road unknown. Like the road coming to this county Rv park is a residential road it has no bridges, but garmin says it's not a known road.

 

Do I have to buy software to add for more data ???

[chirakawa]

I have a garmin trucker GPS. Less than two years old. And it will route me just fine, but when I hit a city road or ??? It simply says road unknown. Like the road coming to this county Rv park is a residential road it has no bridges, but garmin says it's not a known road.

 

Do I have to buy software to add for more data ???

 

I don't know. It's been over 10 years since I had to pay extra for detailed maps from Garmin. Maybe it's unique to the model you have.

[KodiakJack]

Our Garmin Dezl 760 GPS (trucker version that is updated regularly and always linked to my smart phone for the best available information) does the same thing where a little gray box pops up with the logo of a truck in it and a question mark. At the same time a bell tone occurs and sometimes an "unknown" banner also appears along the top of the screen. Even with height, length, weight, width, number of axels, and other information entered this disclaimer pops up on a portion of most routes it selects. I have come to conclude that this is apparently the current state of the art. So I turn to other sources (including forums like this one) to help with route planning. The complexities of a particular GPS knowing all is mind boggling and perhaps the reason the first thing you need to do with our Garmin after turning it on is "Agree" to it's routing disclaimer.

Later,

J

PS Keeping you eyes out for low clearance signs will save on the miles you log in in reverse and perhaps your AC unit(s) too.

[dropframe]

How do you accurately measure the height of your RV?

Maybe something to add to the Escapees weight program.

[JC and Angie]

How do you accurately measure the height of your RV?

Maybe something to add to the Escapees weight program.

I wish there was a laser measuring station that would give you a accurate profile picture of our rigs. It's possible, just too damn expensive to build one.

 

JC