Of all the possible ‘nightmare’ scenarios that nervy caravanners might imagine, driving under a bridge that is too low for the height of your van would have to be right up there with the worst of the worst.
But that’s exactly what happened to one pour soul who got his calculations badly wrong as he drove under an overpass in Geelong … and then heard what must have been a heart-sinking racket as the roof of his caravan was peeled off “like a tin of sardines”.
Police said the Melbourne holidaymaker crashed through the Brougham St train overpass on Good Friday, leaving debris and his belongings strewn over the road.
Geelong Constable Daniel Hadden told the Geelong Advertiser that police blocked off the road as crews worked to clear up the mess.
“They managed to cut the roof off, dragged it off the road and then the driver drove the vehicle up and parked it in a safe place while he organised for a friend to come down with a trailer,” he said. “It was like a tin of sardines.”
It is not known whether the driver was issued with an infringement or will face charges.
“He was a bit embarrassed I think,” Constable Hadden told the Geelong Advertiser.
I was following Garmin in back streets of Austinmer, and it had me turn into a street with a railway bridge way too low for the van. I had to reverse, uphill, and use the junction to retrace my route. Fortunately, a quiet road!
We have a fifth wheeler & bridges are a concern, we have the full height & length of both vehicles listed on the underside of the sun visor. We also use the Hema HN7 navigation which we have set on truck as the vehicle & most of the time it uses the heavy vehicle detour or we look out for these signs as we enter towns.
We lost an air conditioning unit on the top of our caravan while trying to outrun a savage storm in SE QLd. We went for cover in the blinding rain only to discover the shelter we chose had a lower edge support into which we “crashed”. Not much fun.
No matter how hard I try, I cannot understand how people drive under a bridge that is obviously low and not be aware that the bridge height is lower than their rig … be it a caravanner or a truckie … I know the height of my rig … it’s not rocker science.
A few years ago we traded a ute with camper trailer at a motor home center for a brand new Winnebago, heading home we drove on to montage St in Melbourne, the bridge is only 3 meters, our van was 3.2.
We stopped a Metre from the bridge as we totally forgot how high our new vehicle was.
So lucky.