Maryland Police Were Pre-Alerted to Divert Traffic One Minute Before Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse (DISPATCH AUDIO) | The Ga...
A new dispatch audio from Maryland Transportation Authority police reveals that officers had been pre-alerted to divert traffic one minute before the Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed.
They said the captain of the ship told them
Makes sense, he knew he couldn't stop or turn the ship.
He could have dropped anchor. Might have damaged the ship, might have snagged cables or pipes under the water, but could have saved lives.
From what I saw on a vidio, dropping one anchor is what steered him into the bridge.
If true, this saved many lives
That makes sense. The harbor pilot probably radioed the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) when he first lost control of the ship's navigational system. The VTS is like the control tower at airports. So it's like a distressed plane's pilot will will radio ahead to the tower and the airport can prepare, the harbor pilot likely radioed the VTS.
From what I've read is that once that came in cops were immediately dispatched to halt traffic from entering the bridge.
Frankly, I wouldn't call this a pre-alert as much as an alert to an unfolding disaster as a sequence of events was already in progress with an obvious inevitable conclusion. It's like an airplane with an engine fire coming in for an emergency landing. Oh look, the fire department was pre-alerted that a plane fire was going to land at the airport.
Sure were a lot of cars entering the bridge up until the last minute!
But if you watch the video posted earlier, before the collapse there were no lights from cars crossing the bridge visible - it looks like traffic over the bridge was stopped.
https://youtu.be/qZbUXewlQDk?si=jtYWRSR7RRGrh3s8
Direct link: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/maryland-police-were-pre-alerted-divert-traffic-one/
If we assume the ship was moving at approx. 30 mph, a 1 min. warning would mean that the cops got the alert while the ship was roughly a half-mile away from the bridge.
I have no idea what the actual speed of the ship was, but if it were moving down stream, I would think ~30 mph. would be a fair guesstimate to use for a point of reference.
{edit correction}. Mayor claims the ship was moving at 8 knots, ~9mph. If that is correct, then the cops did not get a warning till the ship was within 300 yards of the bridge.
This some good maths right here. Interesting insight 🤔
A key unlocks doors, a bridge connects things!