The earthquake - prostrate Bay Area is already a pretty precarious area for bridges , but now suspicious laggard natural action is also a care for San Francisco ’s illustrious Golden Gate .
Officials arenow reportedly spotting dronesnear the bridge several times a calendar month , and one even crash into the route . Those San Francisco functionary understandably have some security headache , since the human beings - famous symbol of American engine room attracts10 million visitors a yearand ferrying over100,000 vehicles’worth of commuter train a day .
Of course , drone flybys are nothing new : the small , hovering , tv camera - equipped unmanned aircraft have been making unelaborated appearances all around the world ’s major landmark this yr . Just last week , a guylanded a dronecarrying radioactive sand onto Nipponese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ’s role roof . before this twelvemonth , another bourdon ( sans contaminated granule ) crashednear the White House , and others were seen around theEiffel Tower .
With bridge in special , drones can profit easy aery access to the otherwise inaccessible structures . This can be good and bad : Some civil engineersthink that we can use drones to survey the structrual condition of the beams and joints of a bridge circuit — which can be especially advantageous with older construction . ( The Golden Gate Bridge was build around80 yearsago . )
But natural law enforcement is on the lookout for citizenry who might use the information - gather technology for villainous determination . Last year , two humankind were arrested after they were caught vanish lagger near New York City’sGeorge Washington Bridge , nearly come within striking distance of an NYPD chopper at 2,000 feet . Right now , lawssurrounding personal and recreational monotone exercise are still pretty nebulous .
As far as the Golden Gate Bridge goes , though , they take security pretty in earnest . Since 9/11 , the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation Districtreceived around $ 15 millionin grants to beef up security system . sound like some of that could be going toward anti - drone enforcement .
[ Marin Independent JournalviaArs Technica ]
look-alike via Getty
DroneslegislationSan Francisco
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