Following a terrifying bridge strike at Corinda in Queensland, motorists in taller vehicles like motorhomes or towing something as big as a caravan are being warned to know the details of their height and load.
Last week’s dramatic incident resulted in a truck tipping over and narrowly missing a passing car.
Queensland Rail says that, in the 2023/24 financial year, there were 369 rail bridge or protection beam strikes recorded with 360 the year before.
Oxley Road, Corinda was in the top five most struck in the 2023/24 financial year.
Queensland Rail Head of South East Queensland Neil Backer said bridge strikes were extremely dangerous for the driver of the over-height vehicle, other road users, train drivers, and the passengers on the train.
“Bridge strikes are also very disruptive … when there’s a bridge strike, rail traffic is halted, and our teams carefully inspect it to ensure it’s safe for trains to operate,” he said. “We’re pleading with drivers of large vehicles, like trucks, caravans or loaded trailers, to plan their route, obey the road signs and signals and know their height.”
Fortunately, last week’s incident at Oxley Road in Corinda caused only minor impacts for passenger trains on the Tennyson line, but several freight trains were delayed.
“Every strike has the potential to cause harm and they are completely avoidable if drivers pay attention and plan their route,” said Mr Backer.
Low clearance bridges are fitted with signage and many feature measures ranging from protection beams to height chimes.
Motorists who damage rail infrastructure can be fined from $1,290 and four demerit points, to a $12,904 penalty if the matter goes to court.
Queensland Rails says that a driver who damages a bridge, tunnel or overhead structure may also be liable for other penalties such as contravening clearance signs ($645 fine and four demerit points) or $6452 if the matter goes to court, along with careless driving of a motor vehicle ($645 and three demerit points).
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Any tips on how to determine the height of a va
Step 1 – buy a tape measure.
Very good.
Try my measuring a tree system, stand back from the caravan/tree so you can see the very top most point, hold up a stick or pencil so the top of the stick is in line with the very most top point, walk back far enough so the bottom end of the stick is in line with the bottom of a wheel where it touches the ground, keep the bottom of the stick at that point and rotates the stick 90 degrees to the right or left so the end of the stick is lined up with something on the ground, if not get someone to walk to the position of the end of the stick and place a small stone there, then measure form the point the tyre touches the ground and to the stone and you have the height. I measured a tree in my yard and the tree cutterdowerer came to cut it down and did his measurements and my tree measured within 50mm of the actual height,
Park on level ground and run a tape measure from ground to roof. If there is a A/C unit or protruding skylight/vent or antenna, add a reasonable estimate.
i have measured both the full height of my car and my van, added 100mm to be safe and placed a small laminated sheet with those heights under my driver’s sun visor. A quick flip down of the visor when approaching clearance points reminds me of those heights.
Same on my RV. Height, width and length all with a bit extra for safety.
I have side and height clearance measurements plus 150mm stuck on the dashboard. Some low bridges have you running into a steep downhill dip on entry which tends to raise up the rear of the van.
Did the same & also recorded length of van & vehicle separate & hitched. Saves time when booking sites.
I have my Motorhome height measurement on the top right hand corner of my windscreen. There are many times where I have avoided going into servos where the canopy hight measurement could be a problem. Quick, simple and easy.
use a tap measure . Also walk around your vehicles you should be able to gauge the height of car n caravan
We have the exact dimensions of our motorhome on the dashboard, right in front of the steering wheel. If a bridge height seems a little too close for comfort, we find another way around. Even if you think you might just fit underneath, you can’t account for heave/slump in the road surface since the height of the bridge was 1st posted.
There wouldn’t be bridge strikes, if the relative authorities, got off their backsides and did some work to limit these occurrences. They could dig the road down to give clearance to bridge underside, this may be too hard, as they can’t even repair the existing terrible pot holed roads. the railways and councils should never let low bridges exist in the first place, as they know there are many trucks and vans which exceed these low bridges.
Bad Management on both sides.
Since there are so many bridge strikes, does anybody know where it’s possible to obtain a full listing of clearance data for bridges crossing the roads? Is there a web site link available? It would be handy to check any restrictions on your plan journey before you get to the problem.
My full-height caravan is 3.1 metres high. I want to see at least 3.4 metre height canopies or bridges before risking a collision.
Our motorhome is 3.3 metres. 3.6 is the minimum height I will tackle
As a hint, I have a 12 cm ‘PVC extension on my UHF aerial that makes it 10 cm higher that the tallest point on my rig, If it looks ‘marginal’ then I creep up to it and test it with the aerial first, if the aerial doesn’t fit then neither will the rig.
There is a bridge just coming into Goulburn on the south side, that has a height on it but coming from the Goulburn side there is no height you round a bend and there it is..and no we’re to turn around
Whatever you do, don’t trust GPS navigators, they invarably send me along crummy roads with limited height railway bridges!