Posted on 02/07/2022 2:36:11 PM PST by BenLurkin
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A bicyclist fell to her death when a drawbridge connecting Palm Beach to the Florida mainland began rising before she could reach the other side. A bystander tried to pull her to safety but lost his grip, officials said.
The woman was walking her bicycle toward West Palm Beach on Sunday afternoon and was within 10 feet (3 meters) of the barrier arms that halt traffic when the drawbridge started to move, police told news outlets.
Why the bridge tender began raising the span before it was cleared of pedestrians will be a focus of the investigation...
The Florida Department of Transportation maintains the bridge, but the bridge tenders are staffed by a private state contractor.
royal park bridge west palm beach fl Generic photo:
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Some are raise on-demand,but, they tend to be out in low-traffic areas. West Palm is NOT a low traffic area.
We’ve not been through that bridge, but, almost all the bridges we HAVE driven the sailboat through blow a horn (and sometimes use a loudspeaker) before lifting the bridge. Then there is the gates they lower to keep folks away from the lifts.
She had to have ignored the all of the warnings to get in that situation.
There is a gap at the bottom when the bridge is raised. She slid right in to it. This site has pictures and drawings. Much better coverage.
See 22. You can’t slide down onto the roadway. You get to slide down through an open gap onto....something.
Maybe a New York democrat and blew off the warning and gate.
Evidently there is a gap between the roadway and the part that rises, so she slipped through that. I posted the link to the UK daily mail article which is cleareer.
I haven’t seen her age mentioned? The are trying to ID her.
Thx.
Man that sucks.
AHHH. That makes sense.
But who really knows what is in the minds of Darwin Award winners. 🙂
I've been under this bridge several times on my sailboat. The procedure is to call the bridge on the specified VHF channel. Typically I'd say I'm the southbound white catamaran and request a bride opening.
Some bridge tenders would make you get close and then open the bridge, some would arrange it so that it was open when you got there...
The bells and whistles go off well before the bridge is raised. Without a doubt IMHO, the woman continued on to cross the bridge and the tender did not see her. Once the bridge was raised sufficiently, there is a gap in the roadway between the fixed portion and the inclined portion. The story said she was within 10 feet of the arms to stop traffic and apparently some guy, possibly her friend, held out his had to help her across the gap in the roadway.
Some of these bridges would have nothing to hang on to when the bride was raised so once it started to move up, she had to jump over the gap in the roadway as it would be far too steep to stay on the inclined portion.
The woman was a fool to try and cross the bridge with the warning bells going. The bridge tender was definitely at fault because he didn't ensure the bridge was clear before starting the opening of the bridge. In the bride tender's defense, I'll bet the bridge was clear and the woman decided she was going to cross after he made his checks.
Perhaps she was even intending to commit suicide, for all I know. Because she was 10 feet away from the draw gates the article also says. Now the article does not say how long it took for the gates to come down and if she had actually entered upon the bridge by the time the gates came down, again because the article gives very little information as to what had actually transpired.
Imagine the guilt of the would-be rescuer who failed.
We have a drawbridge in St Augustine, and it’s much easier to find yourself out there than you’d think…if the bridge tender isn’t paying attention.
Boats have the right of way, so while there’s theoretically a schedule, it could go on longer than expected or a boat might start through a little early, arrive a little late, etc.
All of the mechanical alarms go off, the arms drop, etc. but the bridge tender is supposed to step out and visually ensure that there is nobody within the gates.
This woman was walking a bicycle. She was doing the right thing…most bicyclists just mow down the pedestrians on the walkways! But obviously she was slower and the bridge tender didn’t check.
” she’d slide down toward the roadway”
Yes, but once this type of bridge is raised far enough, there is even a gap on the side next to the roadway. She probably slid and fell through that.
No, she was elderly, and as it raised, the end 10 feet away dropped as it pivots downward. It’s not like a hinge. So when it moved, there was almost immediately a gap wider than she could manage, and it opened to the concrete base 50 feet below. She fell and landed there.
Kind of imagine the pivot point being a distance in from the gap. As the center raises, her end dropped below the roadway.
The downward slide took her to a gap, and the fell down 50 feet to the bridge foundation and machinery area. She was elderly and unable to move fast or hang on.
But a pedestrian with a bicycle? They need to add some more signs?
Did you even read past the headline? The bridge operator didn’t notice the pedestrian on the bridge before raising it. There is no way she could have gotten on the bridge after the bridge started to rise.
Signs are for other people.
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