Regarding the suggestion from David Archer to solve the problem of bridge strikes I would raise a few questions and make a suggestion or two of my own.
Mr Archer proposes that all bridges be equipped with ‘heavy, indestructible metal frames about 50m before a low bridge’.
Because Mr Archer admits that injuries and deaths could still occur on the upper decks of buses due to them crashing into indestructible metal frames, he offers another idea to install a system of bells at each bridge. Come on, really, this is just a load of old bells.
Could Mr Archer tell us how many bridges there are in the UK that would need such equipment, how much it would cost to carry out the necessary work, and of some considerable interest, how it would actually be paid for? I doubt very much the coach and bus industry is in any position to fund any part of such work even though it has, unfortunately, contributed to the problem. I therefore presume this idea would require funding from the Westminster money tree.
Firstly, I have an idea of my own. Place the driver on the upper deck. That should provide a persuasive incentive for drivers of double-deckers to avoid bridge strikes.
Seriously though, there is some wonderful equipment available that, if used properly, would eliminate bridge strikes.
The first is called the human brain, one of the most sophisticated pieces of kit in the universe and it comes free of charge with every driver. The downside is it requires daily rest in the region of eight hours.
The other piece of kit that would be very handy here are human eyes. Most people have two that can see, literally, for miles. Again, they are included free with every driver.
The connection between these two pieces of kit is so efficient that, when used normally, warnings of danger ahead can be transmitted from the eyes to the brain at the speed of light. That is quick. If professional training is provided to encourage drivers to actually look where they are going at all times, coupled with common sense, bridge strikes will become a thing of the past.
That should save the taxpayer a few bob.
Alan Payling, Torquay
