Rouen underpass eats another British motorhome

nicholsong said:
To answer my own question above the MH probably entered through the 'Deliveries' entrance which in some S/markets connects to the main CP.

I iscovered that when having left a LeClerc because of height barrier I saw 3 MHs in the CP then passed the 'Deliveries'

Geoff
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Yes ,Leroy Merlin in Murcia has 2 x 2m height barriers but if you go around the back you can use the deliveries entrance.
 
Chris said:
I had a near miss with that tunnel. Just crept under but smashed our roof light when we passed under the height warnings.

Almost as much fun as a hot and sweaty lengthy reverse ( with big audience) when I drove somewhere I shouldn’t have in Rioja:doh:
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Is that why you hate France, Chris?
 
Not exactly Rouen or France but when Macdonalds open the drive through in Hull one of our recovery drivers tried to take his truck through. By the time he got to the hight barrier he had half of Hull behind him.
Were he was from in North Yorkshire they didn’t have Macdonalds. You could park outside the chippy in his village so a drive through was so tempting.
As a recovery driver he would have been safer with a wheelbarrow.
 
emjaiuk said:
Even if it's their own fault, I feel so so sorry for fellow motorhomers who have their holiday ended like this
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No matter how many folks on here say it's their own fault, believe me it's not, ok it's easy to say we didn't do it or slave to sat nav or whatever, when we got caught in it we weren't even useing a sat nav, never been on here or anywhere else that said anything about tunnels.
We were just going along a four lane each way duel cartage way, following signs above to where we wanted to go, when the sign said go right for what we wanted we did, and as soon as we turned off we were in a slip way to a tunnel, and that is the first thing we knew about them, too late to back out, the things banged on the roof, luckily there was not a lot of traffic about and cars behind reversed out to let us out.
I would think that now they have made the signage better or something.
No believe me, they are there and it's very easy to get caught out with them.
 
klaatu said:
And the next one, please. Dutch this time.

actu.fr

EN IMAGES. Un camping-car à nouveau coincé dans la trémie de la Motte, à Rouen

Un camping-car s'est encastré dans la trémie de la Motte, jeudi 13 août 2020, en milieu d'après-midi. Un autre était déjà resté coincé au même endroit, lundi 10 août. Détails.
actu.fr actu.fr
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I'm not saying that there aren't signs (because I can see from streetview there are), and of course a driver should be paying attention and using their common sense. But if they've had 3 incidents in the same underpass within a week (2 motorhomes and a lorry) then you have to start thinking about the road design and whether the signage is sufficiently obvious and clear.
 
Mark and Mindy said:
This thread has determined me to accurately measure the height of our van.

According to Fiat the height of our Ducato PVC is 2.54 m and according to Hymer the height is 2.6 m. Obviously the Hymer height includes roof vents which increases the hight but how accurate is that number and the Maxxfan is even higher

We did drive through a McDonald's drive-thru which had a height restriction and we were under the barrier at the entrance but I was very nervous driving under the overhang of the building and from the driver's seat I really have no idea how close it could have been.

The Fiat Ducato does have a radio aerial at the front on top of the cab which seems to be a little higher than the roof but maybe not higher than the roof vents. It may be possible to look up through the windscreen and see if the aerial fouls on anything overhanging as we drive just the front of the van under so I will test for this. A slightly longer aerial with some sort of a warning facility could be very useful.

To accurately measure the height of our van I think I will park on a flat surface and balance a spirit level across the the top of the van at the highest point and use a laser measure to measure the height from the ground to the bottom of the spirit level.

Mark
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The PVC height may vary according to whether you have 15" or 16" wheels.

I suspect the aerial wasn't included anyway.
 
DangerMousy said:
I'm not saying that there aren't signs (because I can see from streetview there are), and of course a driver should be paying attention and using their common sense. But if they've had 3 incidents in the same underpass within a week (2 motorhomes and a lorry) then you have to start thinking about the road design and whether the signage is sufficiently obvious and clear.
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This underpass has been a notorious hazard for many years, causing traffic chaos whenever a vehicle gets stuck or has to reverse out. The City of Rouen should spend more money in order to lower the underpass roadbed so that the height restriction becomes more suited to current commercial vehicles and MHs.

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I had a width thing not a height thing bad experience in Cannes I went into a under ground car park just managed to sneak in with my Q7 however the exit turned out to be narrower and 90deg bend with hi kerbs so I ended up with about 10 cars behind me wanting out and letting me know this in the French way. So I ended doing in two of my wheel rims not a happy boy.
 
SpeedyDux said:
This underpass has been a notorious hazard for many years, causing traffic chaos whenever a vehicle gets stuck or has to reverse out. The City of Rouen should spend more money in order to lower the underpass roadbed so that the height restriction becomes more suited to current commercial vehicles and MHs.
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The problem is that probably wouldn't be cost effective. The underpasses were most likely relatively cheap and quicker to build compared to conventional ones, and in spite of the occasional blockage, anyone with a high vehicle who crosses the traffic light controlled junctions will know that they save a considerable amount of time for thousands of cars. Imagine the financial cost and disruption altering them would cause set against the occasional blockages caused by overheight vehicles which in spite of the lurid headlines don't occur that frequently. It's exactly the same on th road out of Le Havre
 
I think if anyone read this thread before joining the life style - would think twice before parting with cash
 
They can put all the signs, and flashing lights they like to warn drivers but some will still carry on to impending doom as the 11 foot 8 bridge in the US proves.

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emjaiuk said:
The problem is that probably wouldn't be cost effective. The underpasses were most likely relatively cheap and quicker to build compared to conventional ones, and in spite of the occasional blockage, anyone with a high vehicle who crosses the traffic light controlled junctions will know that they save a considerable amount of time for thousands of cars. Imagine the financial cost and disruption altering them would cause set against the occasional blockages caused by overheight vehicles which in spite of the lurid headlines don't occur that frequently. It's exactly the same on th road out of Le Havre
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But you would have thought for an outlay of only a few thousand they could do as has been done at the northbound Blackwall tunnel.

Fit a laser beam across the roadway, if the beam is broken by an over height vehicle it triggers two sets of traffic lights. The offending vehicle is then split from the traffic and redirected out.

The entire process takes about 3 minutes.
Over-height vehicles blocking the tunnel used to be a regular occurrence.
I cant remember the last time the tunnel was blocked since the fitting of the laser beam and lights
 
French Roman law has quite different concept to our nanny state, as Individual you are responsible. Novel consent!
 
Maybe it's like that American 11' 8" bridge that has services running beneath it and so they can't lower the roadbed any further ?
 
We came through Le Havre last year and it looked like some or all of the central underpasses had disappeared!
 
I simply cannot understand my fellow Motorhomers and Caravanners that are not familiar with the height of their vehicle and don't plan their journey before hand. Being the owner of a large haulage company and holder of a HGV 1 even at 75 yrs of age, would point out that if a driver of a HGV will have his driver entitlement reviewed by the Vehicle and Operator Standards Agency if they were to collide with a bridge. The owner of the MH in question needs his eyes testing judging from how far he has travelled under the bridge and with the amount of damage his unit is probably a write off increasing ALL our premiums.
 
I had an "incident" while driving a wagon and drag in Wiltshire once. The sign on the bridge said I could fit under but unfortunately I had rested the hiab on a pack of tiles that were 2" higher than I expected. Bloody loud bang and the tiles exploded. Luckily no damage to the bridge but the hiab blew all its pipes off and was a bit bent. Had to loosen the nets and let it all fall on the road so I could handball the broken tiles back on to the bed. Embarrassingly this was right outside a pub so I had an audience.

Of course this made me very wary of heights in future. One day I was entering a fuel station in an artic when I heard a loud crunch. Almost sh*t myself until I realised I had run over a coke can 😂
 
Brains said:
But you would have thought for an outlay of only a few thousand they could do as has been done at the northbound Blackwall tunnel.

Fit a laser beam across the roadway, if the beam is broken by an over height vehicle it triggers two sets of traffic lights. The offending vehicle is then split from the traffic and redirected out.

The entire process takes about 3 minutes.
Over-height vehicles blocking the tunnel used to be a regular occurrence.
I cant remember the last time the tunnel was blocked since the fitting of the laser beam and lights
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The problem with the Rouen underpasses is that there generally isn't the distance available to be able to install laser beams then traffic lights plus an exit way as some have very, very short run-downs to them. We've nearly fallen foul of them on a couple of occasions but fortunately been able to go in the correct lane when we realised without causing issues for other drivers.

Its difficult but you have to take your time and not be 'rushed' along by the traffic in front/at the side of you so you feel guilty if you don't keep up ... take it steady, if it upsets the 'locals' so be it, better that than end up with a 'modern art installation' MH!
 
Does anybody know how they get you out if you get stuck? Do the local pompiers come along and cut off the roof?

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CathR said:
Does anybody know how they get you out if you get stuck? Do the local pompiers come along and cut off the roof?
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Depends how stuck you are I suppose! If just a little simply reducing the tyre pressure may be sufficient to allow it to get out without causing further damage.
 
DigglyDog said:
No....1.8m only. early did it myself a couple of years ago
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Hi Diddly Dog, yes we nearly went under but luckily about 30 feet from the entrance a van tooted and waved at us and pointed to a small sign and ahead the fingers We happily bumped over the kerbing and took the escape route and back to the roadway. What a shame for the driver, hope it does not put them off..
 
Bin ther dun that (almost). I just got away with it. Had to reverse 150 metres though with my friend directing traffic while doing so. Suprised how helpful the French drivers tried to be. Nobody scoffed. Needless to say my reversing skoills came on in leaps and bounds with that.
 
steve69 said:
Bin ther dun that (almost). I just got away with it. Had to reverse 150 metres though with my friend directing traffic while doing so. Suprised how helpful the French drivers tried to be. Nobody scoffed. Needless to say my reversing skoills came on in leaps and bounds with that.
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And we did the same a few years back in centre of Rouen. Wife was driving so I jumped out so she could reverse. There was a huge lorry with a French Driver behind us. I realised at once we had no problem as he smiled and we waved to each other. We had a laugh as he stopped the traffic as I helped the wife reverse the van.
I did think about it for a few days after ... it could have been a disaster.
 
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Wellington said:
It’s easily done. A lorry in the wrong place or a child wittering (or throwing up) can easily mean you miss a sign. My stupid satnav (on which I am heavily dependent, or it takes us forever to get anywhere) insisted on taking us round and round Genoa and wanted me to go under alsorts of tiny bridges. Fortunately I have a policy of ignoring it and only going down roads that look halfway sensible, unless they are signed to an aire or site which often means the end of journey can be a bit of a trial.

Not as much of a trial as getting out of Genoa. I had to ignore the stupid satnav and form a policy of following the most traffic at each junction. There were no useful signs to the motorway or large towns and I swear I turned round in the town dump twice. I even found the motorway once and ended up back where I started. Which meant there was no need to come off it at all. I’m certain there is a better route through than the one it proposed (whatever it was).

I’m never going near Rouen. I’ll get stuck for certain!
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Avoiding Rouen is a good idea.(y)(y)

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