Height kills
From The Association of British Drivers
By Andrew Bent
2002
The
traffic engineer was quite pleased with himself, he had finally managed
to stop the local bus drivers trying to take their double deckers
under the low bridge under the railway, so Councillor Prescott might
finally concede that he knew what he was doing. But as he entered
Prescott's office he saw that the councillor was in an ominously thoughtful
mood.
'I
see we've had a reduction in accidents in Railway Terrace' said
Mr Prescott, 'Yes' said the engineer,
anxious to demonstrate his success, 'You see
I did a survey and found that the maximum safe height under the bridge
was 12'2", so I arranged for some warning signs to stop anyone
taking a vehicle more than 12' high...'
But the Councillor had already lost interest. 'I've
been studying some statistics' said the Councillor (the engineer
winced, Councillor Prescott's grasp of mathematics was notoriously
shaky) 'and it seems that when those new warning
signs went up the average height of vehicles using Railway Terrace
fell by 9 inches', 'Well, yes..' replied
the engineer, 'and accidents dropped by 18%'
continued the Councillor triumphantly'. The traffic engineer tried
to figure out where this was leading, 'Do you
realise what this means? Every inch of average height reduction leads
to a 2% reduction in accidents! All we have to do is alter the warning
signs to read 11' and accidents will drop by another 24%!'
His
head spinning, the traffic engineer tried to reason with the Councillor,
'but if a 12 foot vehicle can get through perfectly
safely, what is the point in imposing extra restrictions?'
Councillor Prescott was having none of this, 'you
don't seem to understand, Height Kills, if every inch of height reduction
causes a 2% drop in accidents, surely we must have a height limit
reduction program, let's speak to the bus company and see if they
can lower the single deckers somehow.'
The
traffic engineer thought quickly, there was no point in trying to
explain the facts, Councillor Prescott always regarded knowledge of
road traffic and accident causation a fatal disqualification for making
decisions on the subject, but there was a possible way to turn the
situation to advantage. 'There is another low
bridge, under the disused railway in Beeching Close, where lorries
do sometimes get stuck, but I haven't had the funds to tackle the
problem before, I suggest that should be the first priority for the
height reduction program'. Councillor Prescott agreed and the
traffic engineer set off for Beeching Close with measuring rod in
hand.
At
first it wasn't clear why there was a problem at this particular bridge,
there was already a height restriction of 7 feet, so why on earth
were drivers ignoring it? After an examination of the bridge the reason
became clear, the maximum safe height was over 14 feet. On receiving
a recommendation that the 7 foot height limit was unrealistic and
should be raised, Councillor Prescott was apoplectic, 'lorries
are getting stuck because they are too high' he yelled, 'surely
the limit needs to be lowered'. The engineer tried to point
out that it was precisely because the limit was obviously ludicrous
that it was being ignored, and that raising the limit would increase
compliance, but the Councillor did not understand. 'In
Railway Terrace, reducing the height reduced accidents, therefore
Height Kills' he argued, 'surely raising
the limit in Beeching Close will increase average heights, therefore
increase accidents,' 'But it isn't the
average height that matters' the engineer tried to point out,
'a 14 foot limit will be taken seriously and
will reduce instances of excessive height, therefore reduce accidents,
whether the average goes up or down is totally beside the point'.
'But Height Kills' bellowed the Councillor,
'no it doesn't' the engineer bellowed back, of course he should have
said 'not necessarily' but this is not an easy thing to bellow.
'How
can you say height didn't cause this?' Councillor
Prescott produced a press photo of the mangled remains of a double
decker wedged under the Railway Terrace bridge and dropped it on the
desk with the air of one producing the ace of trumps. 'The
point was that the height was excessive for the situation, it is excessive
height that causes the problem, not height itself' the engineer
protested, but the Councillor wasn't listening, 'I've
already decided to introduce a height reduction program, reducing
all existing height limits by a foot, if this succeeds in reducing
heights, I'll introduce a host of new height limits, if it doesn't
I'll reduce the limits further until it does....'
The
engineer stopped listening; once Councillor Prescott had made up his
mind, there was no point in giving him the facts.
I
guess the same arguments could be used with speed limits, but that
would be silly wouldn’t it! ED
