Understanding Liability in Drawbridge Operations
Hi, I’m John Lange. For 27 years, I was an electrician for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. I was responsible for maintaining three of the state’s most critical drawbridges. Now I am contracting electrical work for private and non-governmental drawbridges…at least I was when I wrote this. Who knows what future-me is up to now?
It’s a busy Tuesday morning, and your drawbridge operator gets the call that a 50-foot yacht needs passage. They stop traffic, raise the bridge, and let the boat through. Seems routine, right? What they might not realize is that in those few minutes, they’ve just navigated a minefield of potential liability that could cost the bridge owner hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.
Every time a drawbridge opens and closes, it’s not just about moving steel and concrete. It’s a complex dance of federal maritime law, state traffic regulations, public safety requirements, and good old-fashioned tort liability. And guess what? The bridge owner is ultimately on the hook for all of it.
Drawbridge operators are essentially serving two masters with completely different legal frameworks. On the water side, they’re dealing with federal admiralty law and Coast Guard regulations. On the land side, it’s state traffic laws and municipal ordinances.
When a boat requests an opening, the operator can’t just say “sorry, rush hour traffic.” Maritime law generally gives boats the right of way. But that doesn’t mean the bridge owner is off the hook if an operator in a hurry lowers a traffic gate onto a driver’s vehicle. The key is having clear, defensible procedures that balance both interests while prioritizing safety above all.
Let’s be honest. Bridge operators are human, and humans make mistakes. Maybe they open the bridge without ensuring all pedestrian traffic has cleared. Perhaps they close it too quickly and clip a mast. Or they could misread their instruments and think the bridge is properly seated when it’s not.
Each of these scenarios opens up different liability exposures. An operator who fails to properly clear pedestrian traffic before opening could be creating liability for accidents or injuries. One who damages a vessel during operation might trigger maritime liability claims. And an operator who allows traffic onto an improperly seated bridge? That’s potentially catastrophic liability territory.
The timing of bridge operations creates its own web of liability issues. Take too long to open for marine traffic, and you might face claims from boat operators for delays, missed tides, or even emergency situations. Open too frequently during peak hours, and local municipalities might come after you for traffic disruption. The challenge is finding that sweet spot that minimizes exposure from both sides.
The most expensive training program is still cheaper than almost any lawsuit. Your operators need to understand not just the mechanical aspects of bridge operation, but the legal implications of their decisions. They should know when they have discretion and when they don’t, what documentation is required, and how to handle unusual situations.
Regular refresher training isn’t just good practice. It’s evidence that you take safety seriously. When you’re sitting in a deposition trying to defend your operator’s actions, having comprehensive training records can be the difference between a defensible case and a settlement check.
Every bridge opening should be logged with times, weather conditions, vessel information, and any unusual circumstances. This isn’t just bureaucratic busy work. It’s your legal lifeline. When someone claims your operator was negligent, detailed logs showing standard procedures were followed can be worth their weight in gold.
Consider requiring operators to photograph or video unusual situations. That yacht that insisted it could fit under the closed bridge despite being obviously too tall? Document it. The boat that approached at excessive speed during rough water conditions? Get it on record.
Modern drawbridge control systems can also be your best friend in litigation. Automated logging systems that record exact times, positions, and operator inputs provide objective evidence that’s hard to dispute. Cameras that record operations from multiple angles can prove what actually happened versus what someone remembers happening.
The upfront cost of these systems is minimal compared to what you’ll spend on lawyers trying to reconstruct events without them.
Having written policies isn’t enough. They need to be clear, practical, and actually followed. Policies that look good on paper but are impossible to implement in real-world conditions won’t protect you legally. Instead, they’ll become evidence that your operators routinely deviate from established procedures.
Your policies should address common scenarios. What happens when a boat approaches during peak traffic? How do you handle emergency vehicle requests during marine openings? What’s the protocol when weather conditions make operation dangerous?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth. You can have the best training, equipment, and procedures in the world, but you can’t completely eliminate human error. What you can do is create systems that minimize the impact when errors occur.
It may even be worth considering implementing redundant safety systems. Something where critical decisions can require verification by a second person or some automated system. Maybe build in buffers that give operators time to recognize and correct mistakes before they become incidents.
Most importantly, create a culture where operators feel comfortable reporting near-misses and mistakes without fear of punishment. The error that gets reported and analyzed is far less dangerous than the one that gets covered up and repeated.
Effective drawbridge liability management isn’t just about following rules and checking boxes. It’s about understanding that every time your bridge operates, you’re managing relationships. Relationships between your infrastructure and the public, between maritime and vehicular traffic, and between operational necessity and legal responsibility.
The goal isn’t to eliminate all risk. That’s impossible. But you can manage it intelligently. Document what you do. Train your people well. Maintain your equipment properly. And always remember that in the world of drawbridge operations, Murphy’s Law isn’t just a saying. It’s a legal doctrine waiting to happen.
Every bridge opening is a chance to either reduce your liability exposure through professional operation or increase it through preventable mistakes. The choice, quite literally, is in your operator’s hands every time they reach for those controls.
