We were driving home from my daughter place just recently and we were held up in bumper to bumper traffic for about six hours ,it was caused by that accident at Benalong I suppose everyone has seen the pictures ,I was angry when we seen the carnage and found out that two good people were killed and there daughters were in hospital fighting for there lives ,t the other car was spotted driving on the wrong side of the road by several other motorists, and was killed also from the reports on the media ,he had a history of driving offences and was reduced to driving on p plates.words can't describe how We felt about this guy after what we saw...
-- Edited by Ron-D on Friday 29th of December 2017 06:36:00 PM
Many years ago, I was part of a team who used to teach the local high school kids to drive. We all had to go through a training course ourselves before being exposed to the kids. One night, the instructor screened a film about a teenage alcoholic, No reference at all to driving. At the end of it, we all asked what the significance of that film was to driving. The instructor said that in Australia, one person in 10 has an alcoholic problem, which means that 1 in 10 people coming towards you could be affected by alcohol. A sobering thought (pardon the pun). This Bendalong incident could happen to any of us at any time, and it is not only alcohol - it could be drugs, mobile phone, kids distracting the driver, car radio tuning etc.
I used to teach my students to reference themselves according to the LEFT side of the roadway, not the centreline. Give as much air space between you and the oncoming traffic. By the time all my students went for their licences, I like to think that they had an awareness of other traffic around them and hopefully they would not get caught in an incident liek this Bendelong tragedy.
-- Edited by erad on Friday 29th of December 2017 08:52:03 PM
Australia is one of the safest countries in the world to drive in - back in 1975 the road death figure was 26.6 per 100,000 population. It had fallen to 5.08 per 100,000 in 2015.
I guess figures mean nothing when faced with such carnage.
No Jim the guy was not towing a van ,the person returning from the drug clinic I believe was driving a prado ,and from what I have heard ,the poor victims in this nightmare were in a Mazda sedan,it was impossible to identify the vehicles at the time as they were smashed that badly and were on fire.
It is about time we should reconsider allowing vehicles to have Poly fuel tanks - there are more and more fires is modern crashes where fuel tanks rupture.
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Possum; AKA:- Ali El-Aziz Mohamed Gundawiathan
Sent from my imperial66 typewriter using carrier pigeon, message sticks and smoke signals.
The plastic tanks are supposed to be better ? A big crash a steel tank is hardly any stronger . Location is the key . Our BMW and late model Aust cars had then infront of axle . For protection . Remember in US the Explorer and similar vehicle catching on fire in accidents ? They moved fuel tank ..
It is about time we should reconsider allowing vehicles to have Poly fuel tanks - there are more and more fires is modern crashes where fuel tanks rupture.
Ditto to the above, and perhaps self sealing fuel tanks
As a person who has a bit of experience of getting burned, in an industrial explosion, I would not wish burns on my worst enemy
RIP to all the victims, and all the best to the young lady who is still hanging in there
Not wanting to get on my soapbox, but I can not wait for the day, when irresponsible people, are no longer allowed to drive
It is about time we should reconsider allowing vehicles to have Poly fuel tanks - there are more and more fires is modern crashes where fuel tanks rupture.
It's my understanding that most cars have poly tanks and have had for some time.
