At the risk of Ferryman accusing me of …

Comment posted Overnight closures for Connel Bridge for repairs to damage caused by high truck by Robert Wakeham.

At the risk of Ferryman accusing me of not being a regular user of the Connel Bridge (I plead guilty) I’d like to know why – to the best of my knowledge – there’s no form of overhead warning barrier that triggers stop lights if an overheight vehicle approaches the bridge? This type of ‘fail-safe’ precaution is common enough in some European countries – for example, at level crossings where there’s an overhead electric line.
In this country any construction site involving traffic under low power lines will be legally required to have ‘goalposts’, and it leaves me wondering if the trunk road authority is asleep – or maybe their managing agents get a percentage of the cost of repairing the likes of Connel Bridge? I just can’t believe that the cost of repairs – and disruption – is outweighed by the cost of fitting effective safety warnings.

Robert Wakeham also commented

• In that case perhaps a reliable stop light system with flashing ‘overheight’ warning would be the obvious failsafe system – the flashing speed signs at the southern entrance to Inveraray and on Great Western Road near Drumchapel are very noticeable.
• What I’ve seen in some places is a hefty steel pipe suspended from cables over the road – no electrical system to go wrong, but a driver would have to be deaf or drunk not to be aware of a ‘hit’. (having said that, I wonder what was the driver’s excuse at Connel if – as it would appear – he ploughed on for some distance after hitting the first girder?)

Recent comments by Robert Wakeham

• McGrigor supports small scale hydro schemes but is concerned about lack of grid connectivity
  If not ‘bitter’, then how about ‘negative’, ‘petty’, or just plain miserable?
  Effective ways of providing energy for this country is an increasingly fraught subject, with government commitment to ‘green’ power leading to the perception that our politicians are swimming with sharks, and a proliferation of wind farms that are good for some sectors of the local economy but which are a major cause of price inflation.
  And the Kintyre / Arran power emergency this spring served to highlight the fact that large scale wind generated electricity can be likened to a rough single malt – no use unless it’s blended with other spirit to make it palatable.
  I live in hope that SSE’s Sound of Islay tidestream power project will prove more user-friendly – as are the hydro power plants described by Jamie McGrigor, as far as I can gather.
  Here in mid Argyll we’re being shown the next windfarm proposal – 25 turbines for Electricite de France above Brenfield, which would form a backdrop to Ardrishaig, and would be so close to the recently unveiled proposals by E.ON for up to 24 turbines above Inverneill as to be semi-detached.
  That’s up to 49MW plus up to 90MW, that would all presumably have to be ‘blended’ with power from elsewhere to make it digestible, and if anyone thought that ‘fast breeder’ only referred to a type of nuclear reactor, just look at the emerging cluster of wind farms south of Ardrishaig.
• Argyll Flyer spotted going into Ardmaleish yard on Bute this afternoon
  Doesn’t the SPTE have a remit to co-ordinate public transport provision here? – maybe I’m imagining it, or maybe they’re just pretending, or maybe they’re only really interested in Strathclyde bus services and the Glasgow subway (on the basis that only a tiny proportion of voters use the Gourock ferries, and politics is all)
• 31 hour shout Tobermory Lifeboat’s longest ever, ending in joint operation with Oban lifeboat
  The Oban Times reported on 6th June on the MAIB report on a similar incident last July when a small container ship rammed the Isle of Bute, and apparently legal action is ongoing.
• Refloated cargo ship MV Fri Ocean escorted to Lynn of Lorne – and on into Oban
  Not being a mariner, I wonder why – in this day and age of almost universal use of radar (and GPS?) for navigation – ships don’t seem to be equipped with a proximity alarm, a bloody great klaxon fit to waken the dead, that is triggered if the boat closes with an identifiable hazard.
  It would have to be capable of deactivation in harbour areas and, eg, places like the Corran Narrows – but would surely be invaluable, especially at night.
  Maybe it would be seen as a dangerous threat to the need for proper watch keeping.
• Auchindrain in crisis: facing paying off its two permanent staff
  Considering how all the wind farm developers are so keen (and can clearly afford) to provide substantial funding to help local community ventures, this is surely a prime example of an exceptionally good local cause with national significance.

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