11 Foot 8

11 Foot 8 is the nickname of a bridge in North Carolina that everyone essentially crashes into.

There are a ton of videos on YouTube of various “can opening” crashes despite numerous warning signs.

Blame the User

Sometimes it’s worth pondering this bridge in the context of “blame the user” kinds of engineering philosophies — specifically, how does the current system of (physical) guidelines and warning signs and everything relate to whose “fault” it is that this bridge is an outlier when it comes to crashes.

Its clearance is abnormal for modern underpasses, which very clearly contributes.


Category: design