How to Avoid Bridge Collision

How to Avoid Bridge Collision & Oversized Vehicle Crashes?

Have you ever seen a crash on a bridge? It is quite common for oversized like semi-trucks to run into a bridge because they are too tall to fit. The consequences can mean damage to the truck’s contents, a crash pile up on a freeway or main road, a broken bridge that is no longer accessible, and even in some cases, loss of human life.

Bridge Collision & Semi Crashes Are More Common Than You Think

There are plenty of reports of such incidents occurring across the U.S. and Canada and anywhere that oversized vehicles travel. According to the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), there were 13 fatal large truck crashes for every one million people in America in 2017. The majority occurred in rural areas, but several (27%) were on interstate highways.

Indianapolis even lowered their roads underneath bridges in 2013 because they were having so many accidents (over 400 accidents in about ten years) that they determined it would be more efficient to lower the highway than continue to repair bridges.

Oversized Vehicle Accidents Are More Severe Than Normal Accidents

Accidents involving large vehicles have the potential for much more damage and serious consequences because of their size and weight, combined with high speeds on a highway. There’s nothing scarier than an 18-wheeler headed your way at extremely high speeds, especially in poor weather conditions. In severe ice, snow or rain, it can take even longer to stop, making the damage of a large truck collision even worse.

Plus, when a semi crashes, it often destroys or at least detains its cargo. It can cause severe damage to a bridge, which is expensive to fix, and loss of human life is more likely.

However, the cause of these accidents is preventable.

Human Error is the Number One Cause of Accidents

Of course, semi-truck and oversized vehicle drivers do go through extensive training, and most oversized vehicles require a special CDL license. And other drivers should always be aware when there is a semi or oversized truck near them, giving them plenty of space to pass, merge, and always staying out of their blind spots. Additionally, drivers should not be distracted while driving.

But even though drivers know this, human error still causes most accidents. An estimated 94% percent of all vehicle crashes are due to human error. Whether it’s texting and driving, distracted driving, drowsy driving, or simply poor choices, many accidents are preventable.

That’s where autonomous vehicles and smart roads come in.

New Technology Can Help

With autonomous vehicles and connected smart cities, there will be less room for human error on the road, including bridge collisions and oversized truck accidents. With real-time, low latency and 100% coverage on the road, the potential to develop safe driving solutions is essentially endless. But here’s a few ideas that are already being discussed.

Automatic Warning Signs

Connected vehicles could get a driver’s attention with warning signs. That way, oversized vehicles will automatically know if they can fit under a bridge or not and receiving warning signs can help the driver respond quickly. For instance, if they need to exit the highways to go around the bridge, they will get instructions to do so.

Additionally, these alerts could get more attention-grabbing the closer a truck gets to the bridge, helping to prevent bridge collision.

Vehicle to Vehicle Communication

Vehicles will also be able to communicate with each other, sensing where other cars are on the road so that even if a vehicle is in your blind spot, your car can virtually “see” it. V2V communication could also enable automatic alerts if a driver becomes drowsy and slips into another lane, awaking the driver and helping to correct the situation.

Better Traffic Patterns

Vehicles can not only connect to other vehicles but also stoplights, traffic signals, and even the road. This communication of the full picture of road conditions will enable improved traffic patterns, so even on busy highways accidents can be prevented, and traffic will have a better flow.

Drone Surveillance

Drones could be used to fly over highways, giving instantaneous, studio views of the road. They could then send information back, and if vehicles have enabled connection, drones could communicate with the vehicle of any potential dangers ahead like an accident or poor weather conditions.

Drones could also act as police officers, automatically recording speeds and license plates to issue tickets, similar to the traffic lights that automatically photograph cars that run a red light.

Weather Response

Additionally, even the best drivers can struggle to respond to poor weather conditions on the road. Smart vehicles could automatically slowdown in snow or sleet or automatically turn on windshield wipers to the ideal settings when they detect rain. Smart cars and semis could potentially even recommend when a driver should keep going, or when they should sit out a storm.

Construction Warnings

Construction is every commuter’s nightmare, but with smart technology, drivers could get suggested traffic patterns that make construction less of an inconvenience. Since construction limits road capacity, connected vehicles, including oversized ones, can communicate with one another for more efficient traffic flow.

There are plenty more potential solutions that haven’t even been discovered yet. However, safe driving will still be a critical part of road safety, especially when it comes to oversized vehicles.

While you can’t prevent everything, new technologies can reduce the number of bridge collisions and oversized vehicle accidents, which means saving trucking companies money, getting goods faster, making drivers feel safer, and overall protecting human life on the road.

Sounds Great… How Do We Start It?

Unfortunately, these solutions will not be available overnight. Building the infrastructure for smart roads and autonomous vehicles is no easy feat. You need something that can cover a large stretch of highway, even in remote areas, and will maintain a strong connection.

It can be extremely costly to implement a smart road infrastructure, and some solutions involving cabling take years to implement. That’s why our solution is the most reliable, cost-effective and easy to maintain option on the market.

ACiiST Solutions

When building a smart road infrastructure that can support a variety of applications, ACiiST innovated a solution that is easy to implement, cost-effective and can handle all of smart city application needs. We install small devices on existing light posts to expand the network. Plus, it is very easy to install and synchronize across the network.

Since it is installed on existing light posts, set up is easy, requires no additional infrastructure, and all within a short amount of time compared to other solutions. Since light posts are along most major highways, the infrastructure for our solution already exists.

It also provides power, has a high latency 100 times better compared to a routing-based solution, and is wireless so that it requires less cabling. Plus, we have already started implementing this solution in several smart cities. The future of new technologies in preventing bridge collisions and oversized truck accidents is not far away.

Contact Us For More Information

New technologies used for smarter roads and transportation is the way to the future and will make travel safer while decreasing the cost and tragedy of accidents. However, there are quite a few challenges to bring it to reality. Governments need a smart road infrastructure that can support scalable growth, remain secure, and all at a reasonable timeline and budget. By using existing streetlights, ACiiST makes it as simple as possible to implement a smart city system.