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Just in time for Allston Christmas: DCR starts to install new CARS ONLY signs on river-road ramps
By adamg on Tue, 08/29/2023 - 9:44am
Photo of new signs going up by DCR.
DCR announced yesterday it's replacing the dark CARS ONLY signs at ramps to Storrow Drive, Soldiers Field Road and Memorial Drive with glaring yellow in-your-face CARS ONLY signs.
Old sign coming down (photo by DCR):
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Comments
I dunno....
They are kind of taking all the fun out of this now.....
Let's let things be and keep the tradition alive!
They could put up signs that
They could put up signs that set off flares if an over-height vehicle drove under them and people driving moving trucks would STILL keep going and get caught under bridges. It's like driving a rental truck alters the brain of the driver or something!
Check the archives
It isn't just rental trucks slamming into the bridges.
I feel the same, Mr Nice.
I’m a bit superstitious about tweaking old traditions and rituals.
If we don’t offer up truck scalping to the old gods as mild entertainment, they may get bored and angry and start trying to bowl over the new Millennium buildings with tsunamis.
It belongs in a museum.
That's a genuine historical artifact of the City of Boston.
Those beat up black rubber sign flaps with "↘ CARS ONLY ↙" are more important local art than the Citgo sign.
NOT ART
"So, I guess that means 'Low Clearance' for
cars only, so our truck will be fine!"
What's the September over/under for Storrowings in spite of the new signage? 9? 10?
not good
"cars only" is misleading since it implies simply a ban on bicycles, horses, and pedestrians, not a ban on Uhauls.
"no trucks" or "very low clearance" would work better. best would be a jumbotron continuously looping a GIF showing a moving truck crashing into a low bridge.
Like this (Yes, I know, not a Storrow bridge)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USu8vT_tfdw
Damn, wrong video
I thought you were going to say we need something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImU1mG7QC4I
Gregson Tressle
Ah yes - they put in warnings 1/2 mile away, and also flashing lights and even a stop light.
Trucks just run the red light and BOOM!
It isn't the signage that is the problem.
I'd be curious
Not that any truck driver would answer honestly, but why did they think it was OK to drive on those roads?
Did they just not notice the signs? Did they think it was only a legal restriction and not a physical one? Did they assume there would be another exit before hitting the bridge?
The app said it was the best route
Blame drivers staring at Waze.
Yeah, but
Did they see the sign and ignore it because they assumed Waze wouldn't lead them astray?
Did they see the sign but assumed it didn't apply to them or there's another off ramp?
Did they not even notice the sign?
The answers to the above question would help determine what the should be printed on the sign since "Cars Only" doesn't seem to be effective.
They only see the one screen.
And a bit of road ahead of them.
They don’t even see their speedometers.
I watch them as I ride alongside on my bike or from above on the bus.
The human colon is opaque
Maybe an implant would work?
So shall we
So shall we start a pool to see if this works or not.
I have my bets on Sept 1 being the first day a moving truck will enter Storrow drive and hit a bridge.
Anyone wanna start a pool? I'll throw in 50 bucks.
Maybe we can get one of those online gambling sites to take notice and start a betting pool.
As long as
GPS will guide the new students moving into the area, they will go that route.
Not just students
Check out the long-running series of stupidity here: https://www.universalhub.com/storrow
The problem is that the sign
The problem is that the sign will not hit the windshield of the box truck. When the dangling sign hits the "box", the driver is past the sign and has no idea that it even got struck.
The sign also needs, in large flashing letters:
"YOU WILL HIT THE BRIDGE
THE BRIDGE ALWAYS WINS"
They do something similar in Texas
The sign doesn't have flashing letters, but it says:
"IF YOU HIT THIS YOU'LL HIT BRIDGE"
in advance of a low bridge where Interstate 10 crosses over SH 71:
https://goo.gl/maps/DV3Hba1f6MRtcrtj8
Look to Alphonse Chapanis
WWII military brass kept asking, "why do these moron pilots keep crashing B-17s on approach to landing?" And they hired a young psychologist, Alphonse Chapanis, to figure out how to improve pilot training.
After studying the matter for a while, he reported back, "the problem isn't moron pilots, it's moron engineers, who placed the "retract the flaps" switch right next to the (identical!) "lower the landing gear" switch. During a high workload phase of flight, pilots were flicking the wrong switch, retracting the flaps on slow approach to landing, and falling out of the sky.
And thus was modern human factors design born. To this day, among other distinctive switch handle designs in cockpits, the landing gear switch is shaped like a wheel and the flaps switch is shaped like a flap.
I suspect that the problem on Storrow Drive may be more complex than "moron drivers."
Cheap fix
If you happen to have $10 billion or so lying around.
The other WWII bomber story
"Why do all these planes come back with bullet holes on the wings and not on the fuselage?"
" Because the ones that are hit on the fuselage don't come back."
That's why
I've added 5 extra layers of armor and reinforcement to the top of my U-Haul.
Heirloom UHub bumper stickers
I guess these become heritage items, treasured keepsakes, even:
Which Allston Chrismas?
Maybe it's in time for Orthodox Allston Christmas on Sept 1, but Catholic Allston Christmas is already past, as BC students finished moving in last weekend.
Dreading Sept. 1
Usually, nothing will get me on those roads Sept. 1. Unfortunately, an Australian friend will be in town just overnight and is staying at an airport hotel in Revere. I'm dreading trying to get there from a western suburb on the other side of the river.
Mass Pike to 1A
Probably will be a goat rodeo but at least it's not Storrow.
Or you could take the T to the airport and get on the hotel's shuttle bus.
T isn't feasible
For a variety of reasons including being a s***show these days, no one masking (I'm high risk), and logistics at the other end. I don't want it to take 2 hours each way.
Not sure the Pike will be any better, given that it will be the first day the Sumner is open.
Rt 16 or Rt 60
Both can be fecal matter extravaganzas at various times and places, but they both go from the westerburbs to Greater Revere while avoiding the urban core and tunnels.
Might try 16
Though that does go through Cambridge. I'll explore the maps some more - thanks!
Wonder…
if they'll replace the CARS OLNY sign with a similarly misspelled new one?
Wednesday Morning, 9:15am
There's a Hood milk truck on Storrow next to BU stuck and blocking traffic.
Rental trucks are rarely the problem. It's the "professional" drivers that keep ignoring the signs.
the real solution
Nobody should be handed the keys to a rental truck without having to watch a 5-10 minute video that explains very clearly that anything on the road that says "car" does not mean you and anything that says "truck" means you (except weigh stations etc) despite not having a truck driver license, and then pass a non-tricky multiple choice quiz confirming that this is understood.