This is a timely word of warning if travelling the outback .  It all happens so fast your off into the weeds before you know it

cant read the clipping, am I right to assume the van was sucked in to the road train

The story goes : "The impact could have been worse but the driver was alert and pulled over when he saw the three trailers on the oncoming truck swaying but not enough to avoid a collision with the rear trailer carrying gravel " No one was hurt but the van and F250 Ute won't be going any further this month. The first mistake was not pulling right off the road when you first see the big buggers coming. In a situation like this size does count . and size wins every time

Word of Warning should be taken very seriously. Having faced oncoming road trains in outback Queensland more than once, I have made it a practice to always get right off the road and stop, until anything much larger than me has passed and the dust has settled.

Margaret took this pic in Jasper Gorge. The cattle truck came around a blind corner in the middle of the road. We were doing about 75kph when the pic was taken. Half a second later, we were doing 70kph, half off the road, and there was zero visability. Very scarey! After 'recovering' we met a second one, not far behind. He was in the middle of the road too. You have to expect this and be as ready as you can. Getting off and stopping is the best advise, if you can. Cheers, Peter

dont over rate the fear factor, the big trucks arent out to get you, sure they are big, sure they are scary but they are not out there just to terrify the living daylights out of you or to kill you, they have a difficult job to do and they do it well, if you see one coming, use common sense, you can move more easily than he can, get as far over as you can to your side of the road, safely, move right over, slow down, in some cases stop until you can travel safely again, the doom and gloom stories are everywhere and if one searches the internet long enough you can find them, the truth is accidents involving these bohemoths are rare, they are big and scary and they take up the road sure, but they are not there to endanger the public, dont over rate the danger, just give them the space they need to do their job and get back to their families, I have been amongst many of these things and I am here safely to tell the tale, sure a couple "scared me" and I can tell of the "close calls" but no more frightening than the dukes highway or the southeastern freeway, keep it in perspective


-- Edited by dave06 at 13:40, 2008-10-02