www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-37204050
Seems a wagon with a digger on the back hit a bridge with temporary scaffolding on it.
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All the photographs and videos posted by those directly affected by this incident that have been shown on rolling television news channels for the past few hours reveal just how truly remarkable it was that only one person, a motor cyclist, was injured.
He suffered broken ribs but it could all have proved a lot more serious if he hadn't been so quick thinking.
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Wow, I do that journey a lot down to Folkestone to visit in-laws, a miracle that no one else was hurt/killed.
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I find this rather puzzling.
Would that digger have had enough mass and force to knock the bridge off its mounts?
Why wasn't the digger pushed off the back of the low loader?
The photos show that the digger is still positioned immediately under the bridge - unless it was reversed back after the event, of course.
Why is the low loader on the hard shoulder?
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I was thinking that the bridge must have been very weak as well! - the boom of the digger doesn't look even slightly distorted by the impact!
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Reading some of the reports it seems it was a footbridge under repair, that might explain why it fell without really damaging the digger.
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Why is the low loader on the hard shoulder?
The driver was parked up ready to unload the digger and clean up the mess before anyone noticed?! ;-)
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A few concrete foot bridges over dual carriageways have been removed in Kent recently and only the supports remain, though this week a new metal bridge appeared on one set of supports.
I wonder if here is an issue with the bridges locally?
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Pretty impressive clearance operation.
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Having looked at the 'before' photo, there is top to bottom dark strip on the side that collapsed. Given some insurance company is going to have a big claim, I don't doubt they'll find the picture too and wonder as I do, was the bridge in dire risk of failing anyway and strike from the digger was only the trigger, not the cause.
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As an aside, the company doing the remedial work on the bridge had their adverts plastered all over it. IIRC adverts are not allowed on motorways so how was this allowed ?
It looked like a quite smooth operation to organise the trapped vehicles to travel back along the hard shoulder and escape.
I assume the artics have to wait until they have three clear lanes to do a U turn and then off to the exit.
Of course the moaners gave voice to " Why did it take so long? "
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These doubts have all been raised among lorry drivers too.
Apparently, he must have passed under other bridges before that one on that stretch of motorway even if he came on at the last entry slip and they all have to be 16' 9'' if they are unmarked.
The digger being unmoved on the trailer is the most unexplained thing though as it appeared to be secured by straps and not chains, which would have easily broken with that impact.
On the other hand the normal way to transport a digger like that is to remove the bucket completely and fold the arm right down, so it is a complete mystery.
Pat
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Very glad that the injuries sustained were only slight, it could have been much worse!
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Almost certain that the bike was a big Beemer probably a late R1200GS LC. If the rider, as suggested in the media, deliberately 'dropped" the bike to roll away it suggests quite a level of skill...1/4 tonne + of bike rolling down a road could have ended unhappily for the rider. Well done !
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Digger doesn't appear to have moved very far beyond the point of impact, which was on the hard shoulder - which suggests it was moving pretty slowly at the time of impact. Perhaps the lorry was already broken down and coasting, or driver was suspect he was going to get under - the bridge appears to slope down to that side of the road - perhaps the clearance was OK in the inside lane, but lower over the hard shoulder as it dipped down. Probably broke away at an expansion joint in the centre of the road. Very lucky that no one was seriously injured or worse. M5 appears to be re-open, but the remaining standing half of the bridge has not been removed - does have a 50 mph limit for'safety' - I'd want to be under it ASAP in case it decides to fall down!!
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i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/08/28/08/37A582C300000578-3762053-image-a-17_1472369267309.jpg
Concrete dust on the orange digger arm suggests impact.
I think that the footbridge fell on the little dump truck and dragged it backwards, pushing the digger's arm backwards, and pulling what was the "peak" of the arm downwards and thus lower than it was at the time of impact.
If that arm was *any* higher, then it would never have made it. compare the height with the footbridge support behind it. Even allowing for the effects of perspective, not a lot of room.
I wonder if the diggers arm was simply too high and not down as low as it could be onto the flatbed.
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I'll add this to the conundrum, but hasten to make the point it is only hearsay.
Apparently the lowloader was seen loading the equipment from the roadworks just a little way back up the road.
This could explain why he was going slowly on the motorway rejoining the carriage way, or in some doubt as to the actual height of the digger arm.
I agree the dump truck has been pushed backwards into the digger arm but why wasn't the bucket removed or at the very least, curled right under?
Pat
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It's on ebay if anybody wants a secondhand bridge?
tinyurl.com/znxvsmh
Some mildly amusing questions and answers.
Last edited by: Duncan on Tue 30 Aug 16 at 07:13
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>> It's on ebay
Not there any more.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-37224187
The 73-year-old was travelling at 70mph .........I threw the bike on the floor and went under," he said.
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A motorbike sliding on its side goes further than a bike braking on its tyres.
Sliding on its side it only just about got as far as the bridge. Braking on its wheels therefore, it probably would have stopped in plenty of time.
Don't get me wrong, fair play to the chap, difficult for anyone to make decisions under those circumstances, never mind correct ones.
But he made the wrong call, almost certainly. Perhaps he fell under braking and the rest is a little revisionist.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 31 Aug 16 at 01:01
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...that. to me, would depend on whether the bridge played any part in stopping the m/c where it is (difficult to tell from the photo).
If it did, then staying upright and braking might well have ended up in him being decapitated.
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My guess is that he used max braking but it was no enough.
I agree with
>> ... staying upright and braking might well have ended up in him being decapitated.
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My further guess is that he deliberately dropped it just before the bridge.
By that time most of speed had gone hence the bike only just reached the bridge and IIRC the bike can be seen under the bridge not beyond.
Dumping the bike at such a low speed may account for him just having damaged ribs.
My guesses but I am not a biker.
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"dropping a bike" deliberately is a skill...I have done it once in 35 years motorcycling after colliding with sheep on a moor. A 73 year old biker is unlikely to talk it up. We were talking about this earlier, he made a split second decision and he called it right I reckon. I had one hell of a near miss a few weeks ago, riding in lane two at around 70mph in heavy traffic, I saw a puff of "smoke" adjacent to a truck in lane 1 a two hundred meters ahead. All my hazard perception pointed to a blow out from the articulated low loader and I eased off....as I closed in I saw in fact that there were two large sheets of plasterboard in my lane 2 and the "smoke" i'd seen was dust from these as they struck the road from the back of a pick up....I had moments to make decision, I'd called it wrong on the blow out (low risk) and ended up in a high risk situation - no choice other than to grit teeth and ride it out over the boards...(low loader alongside by this time). All this happened in very short-order both in road space and time.
That rider called it ride, and I tell you now that "dropping" a quarter ton of BMW is no mean feat either in planning or execution and I doff my hat to him.
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M20 bridge collapse - Stuartli
