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Comment by josh_fyi | Hacker News Reader

Why not have a plastic flap hang down and thwack the top of the too-tall truck?

Next, if that's ignored, a plywood barricade hanging down: Better some splintered plywood than a jammed tunnel.

Because nothing communicates "STOP" better than A GIANT F'ING RED GLOWING STOP SIGN AS BIG AS YOUR TRUCK RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE. ('shouting' to convey the brain-slamming scale of the message it communicates, not yelling at you.)

It can't hang down lower than the height limit. Trucks that are over by just a few inches will not even feel the hit, as seen in the other videos posted here.

And lastly a large flashing sign, or water sign, saying there is tire damage up ahead. Then have tire damage spikes come out of the road. It's the drivers responsibility to not damage the tunnel or bridge. Better to damage some cheap tires on a truck than the tunnel.

That's not a good idea. Tire damage reduces control of a multi-ton vehicle in the middle of traffic, and vastly increases the amount of time it will take to get the vehicle back out. Even the flying rubber tire parts have huge amounts of energy and can damage nearby cars or even kill people.

The trick then is to have something negative happen before the tunnel that isn't so dangerous to other drivers.

A vehicle with its tires blown will take longer to stop than one with its tires intact and brakes applied. This would just turn it into an 40-ton wrecking ball - what if there's stopped traffic in the tunnel?

Yeah about that, giving some severe tire damage to a truck isn't the best way to bring it to a safe halt.

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