another case for UHF radio

exa41 · Guru

another case for UHF radio

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

STRUTH cry ... apart from either having no UHF or not having it on, it would seen he also either had no brain or had it off as well.

A bit big to not see it LONG before running into it.

They breathe and move amongst us cry hmm

Cheers - John

KFT · Guru

Surely the presence of pilot vehicles would have given him a hint.

strewth

Grams · Guru

I don't see warning people via UHF is any help, not everyone who travels has one, believe me I think it's a must have. But what if they are switched to another station or don't have it on, that's not their fault.

The Pilot vehicle is the one to have flashing lights warning everyone that a wide load is coming, if the wide load vehicle is wider than the lane, then the pilot vehicle is supposed to drive on the opposite lane making oncoming drivers pull over, then this never would have happened...

Unless the travellers pulled back into the lane after the pilot vehicle passed and was totally blind as to the wide load...I know people can be unbelievably stupid and that would take the cake if they did.

Grams

Dougwe · Chief one feather

How,

Very disastrous indeed. I just hope no one was hurt. Yes, I agree with others that why didn't the driver see the big load ahead but the just maybe the driver did but had no where to pull over. In that case the UHF could have been used to communicate that info to the Pilot vehicle and a suitable solution reached. UHF is a must IMO.

I have been on roads that have a big drop to the left and your tug and den could roll if you pulled over. Just a thought on my part.

Tim thetruckie · Senior Member

Grams wrote:
I don't see warning people via UHF is any help, not everyone who travels has one, believe me I think it's a must have. But what if they are switched to another station or don't have it on, that's not their fault.

The Pilot vehicle is the one to have flashing lights warning everyone that a wide load is coming, if the wide load vehicle is wider than the lane, then the pilot vehicle is supposed to drive on the opposite lane making oncoming drivers pull over, then this never would have happened...

Unless the travellers pulled back into the lane after the pilot vehicle passed and was totally blind as to the wide load...I know people can be unbelievably stupid and that would take the cake if they did.

Grams

Please Grams get your facts correct

It is highly illegal for a pilot to travel on the wrong side of the road . They MUSt stay on the correct side of the road upto the centre line . The only pilots that are allowed to wrong side is Police while on pilot duties .

Blue · Senior Member

was this guy blind?

when in the mining country areas and I see pilot vehicles coming I get off the road and stop..

im not in that much of a hurry that I have to risk an accident..

Jonathan · Senior Member

I totally agree with Grams and Poppy ..

.. but I also think that a lack of common-sense and the consideration of all road conditions was a fault of both parties .. Whilst I love my radios, I don't travel with my UHF (or my HF ) running all the time at all. Should I need to use it to communicate at any time, then I simply turn it on and do so .. In the past 5 years of fulltime travel, I have not yet had a problem because my UHF was turned off. Personally, I find that it can be quite distracting when idle gossip exists which I don't wish to hear, and also you might only hear/understand part of a transmission and so respond accordingly ..

If you feel that having your UHF on all the time, then by all means do so .. if it's your comfort zone .. I find that I don't need to do that .. I'm happy with driving to all the conditions and give myself the time to do so. I'm still able to pay the right respect and courtesy to all transport, machinery and livestock that I come across ..

Grams · Guru

Tim thetruckie wrote:
Grams wrote:
I don't see warning people via UHF is any help, not everyone who travels has one, believe me I think it's a must have. But what if they are switched to another station or don't have it on, that's not their fault.

The Pilot vehicle is the one to have flashing lights warning everyone that a wide load is coming, if the wide load vehicle is wider than the lane, then the pilot vehicle is supposed to drive on the opposite lane making oncoming drivers pull over, then this never would have happened...

Unless the travellers pulled back into the lane after the pilot vehicle passed and was totally blind as to the wide load...I know people can be unbelievably stupid and that would take the cake if they did.

Grams
Please Grams get your facts correct

It is highly illegal for a pilot to travel on the wrong side of the road . They MUSt stay on the correct side of the road upto the centre line . The only pilots that are allowed to wrong side is Police while on pilot duties .

In SA I have seen pilot vehicles do this on odd times, driving more to the middle of the road than the opposite side, and yes why wasn't this wide load escorted by police if it was that wide?

Radar · Guru

Hi All

I would like to have a set of over diamentional load regs with me to be sure to be sure, the first rule when travelling with a oversize anything is to be travelling at speed to the conditions, we don't know the full story.

Where was the escort, how fast was they travelling, did the car driver have know where to go.

There is so many variants maybe if it was 5 metres where was the other pilots,

Yes I never driven road trains but been a long distant transport driver retiring after 43 years.

Before posting stories could we have all the facts please.

Hope all the people involved are all good. Ralph.

I

JackoFJR · Senior Member

Yep Radar , I was think the same thing there is more to this story than just not having a UHF , maybe it was just stupidly , who knows for sure

-- Edited by JackoFJR on Monday 20th of October 2014 11:15:30 AM

spida · Guru

Any loads that wide that I have seen have a police vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road well in front of the pilot vehicle. I just get off the road anyway if at all possible - and as soon as possible!

deverall11 · Guru

I have encountered so called escorts across the Nullabor that were 50m in front of a wide load that was wider than 4m. Your average road is 7 to 8m wide. This meant he was on my side. After that, I soon as I see a wide load, straightaway on the radio and ask how wide he is.
Moral of the story, some escorts/pilots don't always do the right thing.
Larry

exa41 · Guru

according to my neighbour ,there is a set route for them to travel and only need police in extreme circumstances and are not allowed to divert for any reason , he drives a Toyota hiace with all the bells and whistles and a huge sign saying wide load so I don't think they could do much more . I don't think there were any injuries other than the van .

Pejay · Guru

Unless for some specific reason (like chatting to our friends as to where we pull up for morno's) we leave the UHF on Channel 40 so we can hear what is happening on the rioads, and yes it has certainly paid off at times. So we shall continue to have it on.

We were out near Mt Isa a few years ago towing the van and yes we heard the wide load message on the two way, then had the Police who were out in front come down the wrong side of the road straight for us as we were pulling off to get us to try and pull over further - it was 3 (three) wide loads one after the other taking the gear to the mines. Me being me, jumped out with the camera, then Pete heard on the two way 'slow down fellas, the lady wants a photo!'

D and D · Guru

I've always found the pilots provide more than adequate warning to allow us to pull off the road while wide loads pass - however, since arriving in Queensland I have to wonder about where we'd pull over to as the shoulder of every road is graded at such an angle I reckon the van would roll over if we pulled over.

Dave

wendyv · Guru

Dougwe wrote:
How,

Very disastrous indeed. I just hope no one was hurt. Yes, I agree with others that why didn't the driver see the big load ahead but the just maybe the driver did but had no where to pull over. In that case the UHF could have been used to communicate that info to the Pilot vehicle and a suitable solution reached. UHF is a must IMO.

I have been on roads that have a big drop to the left and your tug and den could roll if you pulled over. Just a thought on my part.

By having a radio and leaving it on Ch 40, one usually picks up the chatter between the pilot and his follower, well in advance of seeing them coming. This gives a lot more time to find somewhere to pull off. Example - on the Cloncurry to Normanton road - long area with big drop offs, but very regular dip drain areas that are sealed to be very wide.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

On open road there's more safety than just pilot vehicle.. If speed limit is 80 kph + there should be signs or other vehicles addressing oncoming traffic.. It's not just the speed of the wide load.. No different to traffic control these days.. Duty of care..

Tim thetruckie · Senior Member

Grams wrote:
In SA I have seen pilot vehicles do this on odd times, driving more to the middle of the road than the opposite side, and yes why wasn't this wide load escorted by police if it was that wide?

Grams the below is from the Pilot guidelines for SA and other states are the same .

2.3. Traffic Control

2.3.1. Pilot vehicle operators do not have the power or authority to direct traffic.

However, they may position their pilot vehicle in such as manner within the

appropriate traffic lane to prevent other traffic conflicting with the turning

manoeuvre of the oversize vehicle.

2.3.2. The above duties must be performed in a manner consistent with the

requirements of the Road Traffic Act and Rule 311 of the Australian Road Rules.

If you care to ahve a read of the link below you will find that Police escort was nit needed at 5m . Again this is a SA requirement .

http://www.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/15332/Changes-to-SA-Police-and-Pilot-Escort-Requirements-for-Oversize-Loads-in-South-Aust.pdf

At times it doesnt matter who or how many pilots are on the job . Travelling between Winton and Longreach when I saw wig wags and amber beacons coming , I called and asked how wide . 8m was the reply , I pulled off the road , a Hilux camper behind drove around the lead pilot who did wrong side to try and stop him , the UHF was alive about this clown , he did slow down for the Police pilot , but kept going till he was forced off the road by the load . Another time I was escorting a 4.5m wide header from Tocumwal to Yarroweyah which is windy and with many bridges , called as we left Toc and the truckies where great , came off the last bridge when a 4WD came around the corner going hell for leather took no notice af me at all and nearly head butted the bridge when he saw the header .

grahos · Guru

I have owned semitrailers and have also done my share of Piloting,
I just shake my head sometimes at the craziness of some drivers even when lights
are flashing and driving on centre white line,they just do not understand the dangers of a wide load.

rockylizard · Guru

rockylizard wrote:
Gday...
~~~SNIP~~~ They breathe and move amongst us
Cheers - John

Gday...

And worse still .... most of them VOTE ! ! !

Cheers - John

KFT · Guru

NSW do not require Police escort unless the load exceeds 5.95m

from a HWP officer who does quite a bit of it.

frank

Bruce and Bev · Guru

Not had a problem with wide loads and have come across plenty of mining loads in WA.

However, some pilots are better than others. Too many people using an R/T (in this case UHF) start talking before pressing the talk key and other talk too fast so that no-one has a clue what theyre saying - and had a few pilots like that

Some pilots are great and will address you as the "caravan" and tell you how wide the load is, how much of the road it is taking up and approx. how far behind it is. Others are drop kicks

Also I agree with some of the other comments, that often there is no-where to get off the road - north WA is really bad for that with 6"+ drop offs from the seal or the camber is bad, or theres dense bush or big pot holes. Why should I damage/destroy my tow and or 'van so Rio Tinto can get richer??

The mining companies should have to pay to have the entire routes surveyed that they may use in advance and then the load width is approved by the State Transport Dept taking into account the pull off from the tar seal. Its not only 'vans affected but other large vehicles, like road trains which will more easily tip over