4 hours ago, birdguy said:

Shouldn't there be a minimum ground clearance for all types of vehicles

Back in the '50's it was all the rage to have your car "lowered". The police chief in my town thought that was really "dumb". So he set his own rule for minimum ground clearance. The cops would strap piece of 2x4 to a sidewalk roller skate and pushed it under the car. If it didn't come out the other side at any point they'd give you a traffic ticket for driving an unsafe vehicle. My 1951 mercury was so low to the ground that you could hardly see daylight under it never mind a roller skate with a block of wood on it. After about six months of this "harassment" a local judge put a stop to the ticketing. He, in effect, told the police chief  to knock it off until a law or ordinance was passed. I never heard of the issue being raised again.

3 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

They need to raise the approach roads so that they are level for a short distance before entering the railway crossing. Problem solved.

What they needed to do, was appraise the route and see if the vehicle they intend to drive on that route was likely to encounter any clearance difficulties, and if they determine it might, either use a different vehicle more suited to that route, or take a different route, or even deliver the vehicles on the truck by driving them individually.

This kind of common sense appraisal is basically what all sensible drivers should do, all the time they drive anywhere. It is why when people don't do this, they get cars stuck on the beaches with the tide coming in, or morons get their trucks grounded on a level crossing, then demolished by a train.

Edited October 18, 20214 yr by Chock

12 hours ago, birdguy said:

Why do they make them so low?  Shouldn't there be a minimum ground clearance for all types of vehicles and trailers?

Among the other reasons already mentioned, there is also the issue of bridge and tunnel clearance heights to consider.

10 minutes ago, n4gix said:

Among the other reasons already mentioned, there is also the issue of bridge and tunnel clearance heights to consider.

Sort of like so?

 

I see here some gross examples of failing to plotting your course and doing a proper preflight inspection.

I'm reminded of the story of traffic being held up because a large truck was stopped before an overpass.  He was just and inch or two too high to make it.  People were standing around wondering what he should do when a little girl in a passing car opened the window and said, "Why don't you let some air out of your tires."

Noel

 

55 minutes ago, birdguy said:

"Why don't you let some air out of your tires."

That really happened many, many decades ago in Raleigh, NC. A U.S. Army truck was moving some sort of missile on a lowboy trailer close to the house where I was living at the time, and got stuck under a railroad bridge. They called the Corps of Engineers for assistance in solving the problem. They studied the problem for several hours. Eventually one of the Privates quietly suggested letting air out of the tires. They did just that and finally - after two day of closure - the road was re-opened for civilian use. 🤑

I heard the same story almost 70 years ago. That time it was a truck carrying a tank getting stuck under the Soldier's Club overpass on Highway 1 in Ft. Ord, California. Interesting how stories get around.

                                                            

This is why they do have a Commercial GPS Software, but I suspect a lot of 'rookie' truckers are using their smart phones to navigate

In the USA all crossings in the whole country are supposed to have the phone number of the local RR dispatcher on a blue sign. If your call stalls, get out quickly and call it. The dispatcher will attempt to stop trains. And then you can go ahead and try to push the car away.

When you call the number you also tell dispatcher the second number on the sign which is a code for exactly which crossing. You don't have to know the name of the street.

The blue signs idea started after people had portable phones.