Caravan Fatality Coroners Report

Vic41 · Senior Member

Caravan Fatality Coroners Report

mike and Judy · Guru

Good point Vic
I have to admit that I skimmed over the report expecting to find that,
A badly loaded van can sway, and drivers that tow vehicles MUST have an extension mirror fitted, Swaying was commented on but no mirror
I wonder if the driver of the van in question had an extension mirror and was he checking it often enough

whoppa · Veteran Member

We are still learners at towing caravans on Australian roads ,But I have made some observations and would be interested in your thoughts on the subject.I have found that your truck units (larger than allowed in NZ) tend to want to travell 5 to 10 KM,s over what ever speed limit there is and most will be patient enough to wait till the next passing lane,however some will try and intimidate you by travelling as close as 3 to five meters off the back of your caravan at speeds of 100km,s.
I am not sure of your following distances here in australia but in NZ it is 1 car length per 100 km.
Are there similar laws here and is there ever any inforcement of them.
I must coment that I hardly ever see a patrol car on the roads here.
mike

Vic41 · Senior Member

Whoppa,

I'm not full bottle on your questions so will leave that to those more up to date.

Mike & Judy,

When being passed by some of these multi trailer trucks I have seen the following trailers swaying (snaking) which have frightened the pants of me. Not saying that some caravan drivers are not just as bad, but still a worry. I think the pity with the subject report is that the other party didn't live to give their version of events, which could have differed from the truck drivers to be fair to them.

I think some van drivers panic to when being passed by these trucks going in the same direction, I know that I am VERY alert watching them when they pass me.

Vic

Ken, re your comments below, couldn't agree more, idiots are idiots whatever they are driving. I don't give truckies behind me a blinker when I consider it is safe to overtake me as I would hate to be wrong, most can see over me anyway. However I do blink when their last trailer has cleared my front so they know it is safe to cut back in, I understand from truckies that they can see this "blink" in their rear view mirrors and appreciate it.

I don't know if you know Mick The Mungrel (his nickname and his trucks), his Volvo truck broke down recently and he left it locked up by the side of the road and some low life torched it, his biggest concern was weather a panel on the truck that had been signed by Sarah Storer (spelling) the female country and western singer. He had to hire another truck until he can get another truck and the insurance is sorted out.

-- Edited by Vic41 on Friday 12th of June 2009 03:49:52 PM

kenmarg · Senior Member

hi whoppa. i will try to answer your thoughts about interstate truck drivers,travelling so close to you???? first off there are 10 percent,of idiots,in all of our society,so do take care. if the idiot is driving in a dangerous manner,just slow down a bit and pull over and let him go.( use your right hand blinker,to tell him to pass ) i used to travel about 2 car lengths from the back of your van,. my b-double weighed 72 tons,so for me to make a passing move i had to be on the ball as my kenworth might be 600hp "BUT" it doesnt accelorate like a car. the truck industry is all about profit,our main cost is diesal,so if i can sit on a steady 100kph,all is ok. not many caravan drivers sit on a steady 100kph, (80to95kph )seems to be the norm. i dont know how much experience you have had with your caravan. but i have had 47 years driving trucks all over australia ( with no accidents ) my wife estimates that i have driven 19,000,000 klms according to my log books. so mate have a bit of patience with us, ( as i do with the 10 percent of idiot caravan drivers ) and i do apologise about the cowboy truck drivers.

mike and Judy · Guru

I have nothing but priase for the truckies, been towing campers and vans for the best part of 30 years and have followed the highway code all that time , using blinkers and flashes, They are trying to earn a quid and all that 10% of cowboys seems to want to do if stop em
if you are holding em up , just pull over and let em go, you have the time , they don't

Cruising Granny · Guru

When I see a truck approaching from the rear in my mirrors, I get on the UHF radio and advise the driver of my average speed at the time. I also give him the ok to pass when it's clear.
I sometimes slow a little when all of the truck is in the lane next to me, so he can get passed easier, especially if it's a B-double or triple or more roadtrain.
I always get a "thanks" when they've passed.
Most of these drivers own their own rigs and have to work damned hard to keep all those wheels turning. There are the occasional cowboys, but even they appreciate good road manners.
We all know they generally "hate" caravanners, because of selfish driving practices, and the lack of awareness through their rear vision towing mirrors.
I'm working to change that attitude. Most vanners aren't in a hurry, but the truckies have a living to make.
The country depends on their wheels.

Ma · Guru

Pity there weren't more like you CG and most of us other GN's. My son is a truckie and even if I say so myself.....A VERY GOOD ONE. He really appreciates the thoughtfulness of most of us and finds that the ones that are the worst offenders and the Mum and Dad Weekenders who obviously have limited time and want to do 1,000's of kilometers in no time flat. Keep it up GN's and like they say "what goes round comes round" and one day we might just need that bloke in the B double or road train

Cupie · Guru

Vic ... In the matter of Jong .....

I read this a few years ago & got the distinct impression that a major problem might have been the probable lack of ball weight. A witness, somewhat debunked maybe because of his lack of formal engineering qualifications!!!, was Tom Olthoff of Caravan World, Caravan Clinic fame ... (I think).

As I recall it the van once it detached from the tow vehicle (how you might ask) continued without the A frame digging in & overturning it, into the roadside. Enough said. Ball weight is VERY important. I prefer >10% myself.

Lack of ball weight IMO makes the rig unstable and subject to variations in road surface & 'suck' of passing vehicles.

Having said all this I might go back to the copy of the report that I have saved on the HDD & see how good my mempory is.

ps. note all the 'maybe' & 'as I recall' & 'IMO' comments .. who knows who reads this stuff!

Vic41 · Senior Member

Hi Cupie, yes Tom is the same bloke who writes for the magazine you mentioned. I went to a talk given by him a few years ago, he said that in regards to ball weight it is better to err on the side of more ball weight than less if a van is not balanced properly, which rather surprised me at the time, he made no reference to that report but in hindsight that is probably what he was basing his comments on.

Tom is very knowledgeable and well known for his caravanning expertise.

Vic

whoppa · Veteran Member

Hi Kenmag,
I have to agree with you about the 10 percent, I find most truckies are very patient I usually set the cruise control to 100k but must admit the gps tells me iam only doing 96 km I suspect it to be more accurate.
The only thing I object to is the ones that follow 2meters off the back for 2 or 3 kms when there is no passing opertunities.
However I do expect to see them right there when a passing lane is aproaching and I also have got in to the habit of kicking out the cruise when in the inside passing lane
so as to let them passed easily and any other traffic.
But to followed for 2 k,s or more so close does not seem to be nessasary to me.
How long does it take to stop with 70 tonne up?
I really don,t want to be squashed in an emergency stop.
i must rember the indercator thing I can see how this would be usefull for the truckie,
And yes I appreciate it is a very competative industry.

Cruising Granny · Guru

In my experience, especially in Qld, it seems it's compulsory to tail-gate and to overtake on solid white lines, be they single or double.
Impatience and selfishness lead to many of the head-on crashes. They can't sit back and wait for a better opportunity to overtake. Unfortunately their actions not only affect them, but they usually take out at least one other vehicle, and the occupants of that innocent vehicle sustain the worst injuries, or worse. We lost 2 people up here last weekend to what seems to be the "impatient" scenario.
Good manners on the road save lives.
But how do we get the message out there? Who teaches the drivers to drive beyond getting their licence? Does anyone teach defensive driving anymore?
The more km's I do the more I see, and much of it isn't scenery I'd want to revisit.
Drive carefully and safely. Cheers Chris