Rigs carrying oversize loads follow routes carefully planned to avoid tight clearances. In many states, they’re escorted by pilot cars with signs and flashing amber lights to warn traffic ahead that something big is approaching.

Sometimes the pilot vehicle has a pole on its front bumper to gauge overhead obstructions. If the pre-set pole is too high to clear an object above, the pilot car’s driver can warn the rig behind.

That doesn’t always work, as we saw in that I-5 bridge collapse north of Seattle back in 2013. The pilot pole bumped the bridge’s overhead truss, but there wasn’t time to warn the rig’s driver, following at a brisk pace 550 feet behind. A story's here.

But technology can help. LSA Autonomy and Velodyne LiDAR have introduced the Overhead Wire Laser Detector, or OWL. A press release explained that the device mounts on the pilot car and plugs into a programmed laptop. Its software sensor processes sensor signals to measure wires and other objects ahead.

When clearances are insufficient, the system alerts the operator with audible and visual warnings, while providing photographic imaging for clarity. An informational video shows what’s on the display screen. 

OWL works at highway speeds, making it valuable for pre-transport route surveys, the statement said. However, when used for escorting, the pilot car’s driver should limit road speed to 25 mph to allow for sufficient stopping time.

The OWL system was developed at the request of one of the world’s leading advanced technology companies, said the statement. This was after an incident in which an oversize transport caught a communication wire, snapping a telephone pole and bringing down a power line that caused a regional blackout. It also damaged a transport vehicle, “imperiling the lives of transport crew members,” the statement declared.

“In its first use, when deployed in tandem with the traditional pole methodology, the OWL prevented an accident by alerting the transport driver to an obstruction that the lead poles failed to detect due to the crown of the road,” the release concluded.

After watching the OWL video, we came upon another YouTube video about the Giraffe G4, sold by the EZ Truck Store. It's informative and entertaining, and is here. 

Could these devices make poles obsolete?