Anybody seen the story of the ship running into the bridge in Baltimore it just collapsed like a deck of cards.Looks like someone in for a bollocking.
Yeah there might be some casualties. The whole lot went as you say. Fingers crossed the bridge wasn't too busy with morning workers and those that entered the water are saved.
Say what you want about America, they put people in jail for a very long time for sh*t like this, unlike in this country.
The bridge is 50+ years old. It is unlikely that those who designed it with insufficient protection to survive an incident with a ship are still around to be punished for it.
I'm not sure how effectively a bridge can be designed to survive a direct hit from a fully laden cargo ship, especially 50 years ago. That thing will have had an incredible amount of force.
Not worked it out, but an object like a small island around the pillar could have adjusted the momentum enough to divert - or ground - the ship. But it was probably never considered as a possibility. Although some of the nutters over there are already using it as evidence of military action against the USA...
There'll be a reason it went into the bridge though, pilot error, technical problem, I'm guessing there'll be more then one factor at play, but if someone screwed up then they'll be going to jail.
Since the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 courts have got tougher on these crimes. There has always been Section 37 of the Health and Safety at work Act, but it has not been used as much as it should. Following seven deaths from a Legionellosis outbreak in Barrow-in-Furness in 2002 the borough council was the first public body in the country to have faced corporate manslaughter charges. The council building's A/C system had not been maintained which was the cause of the fatalities. The penalties meted out were lenient. The council senior architect, was fined £15,000 and the authority £125,000. The building Technical Manager was sacked but later re-intstated following a challenge by his union. The legislation is there but sentences have not been as severe as other countries.
Would of thought have to be a fair sized island though to divert something that size, I’m guessing if it had hit the ‘hanging’ bit instead of the upright less damage would have been caused.
Looks like it lost power twice. Also note the smoke right before the crash, probably trying to fire up a generator.