10.04.2014

Van mount in the road

A reader in the UK spotted a van mounted van working over the top of a live traffic lane from a position in the centre of a busy road earlier this week.
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A van working in the middle of the road

The actual situation is not quite as bad as the photos suggest, in that the van is backed up against a street sign and lamp post in a dead zone next to a right turn bollard.
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The situation is not quite as bad as it looked, but still quite risky

However it is working over the top of traffic, where double decker buses and high sided trucks are among the traffic in this 40 MPH speed area. The van mounted lift is owned and operated by SSE the electrical utility.
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A bus passes under the boom

In the words of our correspondent: “Spotted this van mount today on a major route through Nottingham near to junction 26 of the M1. No warning signs or cones, a man on the ground was at the rear of the van on his phone. Trucks buses and cars happily passing underneath the boom. The unit was owned by SSE in conjunction with Nottingham city council.”

Vertikal Comment

It is surprising that employees of such a major operator would set up in this manner. To be fair to them it does look as though they have some decent clearance, even over the double deck bus. The problem comes when they move the boom, such as reaching out further or descend and the operator forgets the clearance over the road.

At least the man appears to be well harnessed into the platform.
Still an example for our Death Wish series.