The story of the Boston bus crash this past weekend takes on a new dimension with the revelation by a spokesperson for the state agency that it had "seen an uptick" recently in the number of vehicles that had been hitting overpasses, "mostly by box trucks, vehicles that you can rent," by people who are not used to driving them. Listen to this interview on Radio Boston.
The inaction by DCR in response to this trend is all the more striking when one considers that the solution to the problem was put in place 30 years ago. It was low-cost, low-tech, and effective: Hang rubber signs saying "cars only" at every entrance to the river roads, at a height equivalent to the coming underpasses. Much has been made of the cowbells that were attached to the signs, but the significant innovation were the signs themselves.
The "up-tick", I 'd like to suggest, is the result of the deterioration of the system Bill Geary put in place in the 1980s. Because of my personal interest in this bit of urban infrastructure, over the last year or two, I have noticed a growing number of instances where the signs have been missing. Often, all that was left were the chains that used to hold the signs. Indeed, sometimes the only things left hanging on the chains were the cowbells!
Based on this interview, it appears that DCR thinks that an awareness campaign is the way to go. Do you really think that an "awareness campaign" will reach those students with U-Hauls every September and June (or the tour bus operators who pass through Boston once or twice in their lives)? Please don't reinvent the wheel. Just restore what worked so well for so many years.
The inaction by DCR in response to this trend is all the more striking when one considers that the solution to the problem was put in place 30 years ago. It was low-cost, low-tech, and effective: Hang rubber signs saying "cars only" at every entrance to the river roads, at a height equivalent to the coming underpasses. Much has been made of the cowbells that were attached to the signs, but the significant innovation were the signs themselves.
The "up-tick", I 'd like to suggest, is the result of the deterioration of the system Bill Geary put in place in the 1980s. Because of my personal interest in this bit of urban infrastructure, over the last year or two, I have noticed a growing number of instances where the signs have been missing. Often, all that was left were the chains that used to hold the signs. Indeed, sometimes the only things left hanging on the chains were the cowbells!
Based on this interview, it appears that DCR thinks that an awareness campaign is the way to go. Do you really think that an "awareness campaign" will reach those students with U-Hauls every September and June (or the tour bus operators who pass through Boston once or twice in their lives)? Please don't reinvent the wheel. Just restore what worked so well for so many years.