Not only a ferry or a ship can get stuck, but also an ordinary truck traveling on the road. These are unpleasant realities that have become more common, and for this reason a new road sign has appeared in Europe, which aims to prevent them.
The British and Irish were the first in Europe to realize the consequences of "truck grounding" when long semi-trailers with a low platform get stuck on uneven railway crossings or bridges.
Trucks usually rest with their bottoms on the rails or high unevenness of bridges. In order to avoid unpleasant and financially unprofitable damage, the introduction of the new road sign will begin in such places.
The sign depicts a single hump and the silhouette of a vehicle hovering over it. Such a warning may take the form of a horizontal sign with the same black silhouette of a truck hanging on a hill and the corresponding inscription. In Ireland, the same silhouette of a truck on a yellow background was used as the basis for a road sign in the shape of a diamond.
As for the official name, the word "earthing" is most often used, which indicates the action of the truck. Hence the most common names: „Earthing hazard“, „Earthing shock hazard“, „Earthing risk“ etc.
In any case, the silhouette of a freight vehicle directly inside the triangle, rhombus or rectangular sign moving over a hump clearly indicates that the trailer system is likely to get stuck on a problematic section of the road.
Usually such a road sign is placed near railway crossings, tram tracks or "hump" bridges. As a rule, railway tracks are placed on embankments crossed by roads with short climbs of the road surface to the level of the tracks and equally short descents.
These bumps do not pose a threat to high semi-trailers, but modern systems with long low-frame trailers have very low ground clearance. While driving, the additional height of the track can not only scrape the bottom of the vehicle, but also leave its wheels hanging in the air.