Despite plenty of warning signage about low bridges, the town is still struggling with box truck and semitruck drivers attempting to use Botsford Hill Road and Toddy Hill Road as cut-throughs.

Toddy Hill Road, for instance, has four to five yellow signs noting that trucks should not use the road and that the maximum vehicle height is 11 feet, five inches.

The Police Commission voted to approve additional signage in the area of the railroad bridges on Toddy Hill Road and Botsford Hill Road at its October 3 meeting.

“We have a plague of people not understanding or knowing the heights of their vehicles, or disregarding signs,” said Police Commission Chairman Joel Faxon. “They try to squeeze under the railroad tracks.”

Faxon conjectured that a large percentage of them may be inattentive due to being on cell phones, which he always believed to be “pervasive,” but after recently spending time observing traffic, has realized is “ubiquitous,” with 70 percent to 80 percent of drivers he observed visibly being on their phones. He also said that in talking with some officers who responded to these incidents, the drivers often claimed to “not understand the depiction of the sign as it relates to vehicles.”

Faxon said that trucks hitting the overpass can block traffic and can do structural damage to the “ancient railroad crossings.” He also expressed some concern that someday a truck might strike the bridge while hauling caustic or explosive materials.

To prevent this, the police commission approved a “comprehensive sign plan” designed to “wake people up.”

“We don’t want to have any more untoward events,” said Faxon.

The plan will add more signs warning of the curve and reflective markings on existing signs about the height of the bridge. There will also be a work order to straighten the curve on Botsford Hill Road.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.