Brand new caravan write off Bruce Hwy.

[BruceandBobbi]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-30/qld-highway-caravan-crash-sparks-safety-warning/12402706

[Jasonmc73]

Yeah I towed tandem traler other day fully aware back heavy way I loaded, no choice way machine was, back heavy & loaded other way no good.

Above 90 you could feel sway start, hit the button & back off, keep speed down & all was well.

I was expecting it & have towed for 15 years deliveries as part of my job, so was not a complete surprise.

These towable homes even worse longer more up leverage when loaded wrong & get out of sync.

Be very very careful & aware of how she's towing me thinks

I recall many years ago with my father actually whom drove interstate, a van past us, totally loose as a goose you could see it, Newell hwy & about 20 minutes later we came across same van in about 3000 pieces.

I'm not big fan of the accelerate out of it theory i hear people spook myself, no thanks bigger balls than I

[erad]

In the bad old days, whilst I was renovating my house, I had to make many trips to Canberra (mainly medical reasons). I used to put my 7' x 4' trailer on the back of the car and go up to get some building materials whilst I was there. The worst load was about 12 sheets of Gyproc, most of them being 3.6 m long by 1.2 m wide, some of them 1.35 m wide as well. I used to buy some 38 x 38 mm pine pieces to use as battens, and laid them on top of the trailer box. I would then load the Gyproc on top of the battens, and then top that off with more battens, all securely tied down with ropes. The centre of gravity of the trailer was somewhere near the tailgate. To counter this, I used to firstly buy 9 bags of cement and load that as far up front as possible - 3 wide by 3 high. Driving home was an interesting experience - 70 km/h going downhill, 80 on the flat and 90 uphill. Any more and it would start to wag. I never weighed the load, but comparing it to a known load of 1.2 tonnes of cement and lime, it was similar weight. And I towed it mostly with a Sigma 2 L 5 speed model.

But I never lost any piece of material on the trips. I am sure that I wouldn't get away with it now - hell, even tying things down with ropes is illegal. And the traffic is so much worse these days... They were the "Good Old Days" - thank God that they are not with us now!

[Jasonmc73]

Out of interest quite a few sections of the above mentioned area are 110k zone

90k's might be a better option regardless of what the sign say looking at the carnage?

Just saying

[Dicko1]

Out of interest quite a few sections of the above mentioned area are 110k zone

90k's might be a better option regardless of what the sign say looking at the carnage?

Just saying

A properly set up car and van should easily be capable of 100kph on a highway/freeway. I,ve seen dozens sitting on 110/120kph on NT highways. Towed by large units. The twin cabs and mid size vehicle owners have been suckered into thinking their unit is safely capable of dragging their aluminum road block around.

[nj swb]

Kev Williams and Trev Whish, from Australian Four Wheel Driving and Advanced Driver Education, said a "poorly positioned load" was the most common cause of caravan crashes.

The senior trainers said while manufacturers had a responsibility to ensure caravan specifications were met and the vehicles safe to use, minor changes to a caravan's load by the owner later could be enough to cause a major accident.

"What tends to happen is, once the owner takes over, they can upset that balance by putting too much weight on the back of their caravan or trailer," Mr Williams said.

"That's one of the main reasons a caravan or trailer sways, because you've putting too much on the back.

"Load weight and position is important.

"So it might be set to go, but the owner might put a 20-litre fuel jerry on the back, they might add a bike rack or spare tyre — those things will easily cause problems."

Ignorance can be dangerous.

Interesting comment in the article about a B-double driver rolling a caravan. A B-double is an inherently more stable design than a typical caravan, and loading principles would be different. A lifetime of experience loading and driving road trains doesn't teach how to load and tow caravans.

[Dicko1]

Ignorance can be dangerous.

Interesting comment in the article about a B-double driver rolling a caravan. A B-double is an inherently more stable design than a typical caravan, and loading principles would be different. A lifetime of experience loading and driving road trains doesn't teach how to load and tow caravans.

Agree....but by geez they can certainly reverse a caravan. Some of the efforts I,ve seen at parks would have you think some drivers seeing eye dog was behind the wheel. Sooner we get a licence required for a van and factual weights of vans and vehicles the safer we will all be...especially now that there will be thousands more on the road.

[cruisn06]

I don't understand why this is so difficult to deal with... take a step back after hooking up, does the vehicle look level? no.. repack.
Let alone if you get to highway speed an notice a wobble slow down and reset again.

[cruisn06]

Agree....but by geez they can certainly reverse a caravan. Some of the efforts I,ve seen at parks would have you think some drivers seeing eye dog was behind the wheel. Sooner we get a licence required for a van and factual weights of vans and vehicles the safer we will all be...especially now that there will be thousands more on the road.

I dont think we need more licence's, there is enough already. all the bad drivers on the road passed there test remember. Why give the government more money? we need less control here.

[Keithyv]

I don't understand why this is so difficult to deal with... take a step back after hooking up, does the vehicle look level? no.. repack.
Let alone if you get to highway speed an notice a wobble slow down and reset again.

I think there is way more to it than a van looking level.

It can be way out of kilter weight distribution wise without looking out of level.

Worst instability I've had is when towing a new (well new to me but 2nd hand) empty caravan (no gear in it/ no water in the tanks etc.)

Was very light on the ball weight.

[nj swb]

I dont think we need more licence's, there is enough already. all the bad drivers on the road passed there test remember. Why give the government more money? we need less control here.

Because people who can't even drive a car safely are allowed to hook a 3.5 tonne caravan to the back of a twin cab ute and hit the highway at 110 km/h. They're not allowed to drive a 5 tonne rigid truck, but they're allowed to drive a 6 tonne rolling road hazard.

I spent a little time googling some of the videos of scale model setups, where they move the weight around and show the effect on stability. Some of those are also scarily simplified, making it all about ball weight.

It's not simply about ball weight - it's about weight distribution. Two identical setups with identical axle mass and ball weight can have radically different dynamics - it all comes down to the distribution of the mass.

[Pushbike]

It appears that the van was fitted with "swinging arm" suspension.
Is it possible that either/or load induced camber was introduced and/or misalignment of the suspension caused some toe in/out -crabbing.
I've observed some beauties, the overloaded tradie's ute /--\, and even the "family" station wagon with a skewed rear axle.

[BruceandBobbi]

Because people who can't even drive a car safely are allowed to hook a 3.5 tonne caravan to the back of a twin cab ute and hit the highway at 110 km/h. They're not allowed to drive a 5 tonne rigid truck, but they're allowed to drive a 6 tonne rolling road hazard.

Once upon a time the towed vehicle wasn't allowed to weigh more than the towing vehicle.

Now you can pass your driving test in a Toyota Corolla. Two years later hook up a 8 metre caravan behind your Pajero and drive around Australia with an articulated vehicle.

Yet you need to pass another driving test to drive a 5 tonne rigid truck.

A couple of years ago I was at an equestrian centre with a huge carpark. There was a company there teaching caravan owners how to manoeuvre their caravans through witches hats, reversing straight and reversing into 'caravan sites' and whatever. Funniest thing I had seen in years.

[nj swb]

A couple of years ago I was at an equestrian centre with a huge carpark. There was a company there teaching caravan owners how to manoeuvre their caravans through witches hats, reversing straight and reversing into 'caravan sites' and whatever. Funniest thing I had seen in years.

Yep, more than once at a refuse transfer station I've seen staff walk over to a vehicle reversing a trailer and take control of the steering wheel through the window.

But to be fair, some combinations are easier to reverse than others. As a kid, backing a 6x4 trailer up the drive behind a GC Galant was easy. Then I bought my NB wagon, and had all sorts of trouble reversing the same trailer up the same drive. I can only guess it was something to do with relative lengths of wheel base, rear overhang in the vehicle and drawbar length of the trailer.

[Two Emms]

I have often said that anyone towing a caravan should have to get some kind of endorsement. Wouldn't need to be much more than a one day course with both theory and practical aspects.

I,like many others, cannot believe that someone who has only ever driven a Nissan micra through the suburbs can simply buy a dodge ram and a mobile apartment block and drive off into the sunset. Surely the need for some training in any new activity is just bloody obvious !!

Unfortunately I think it's going to take a tragedy (or maybe several) before the government has the temerity to act. Even then, there will be people who will cut up rough about "red tape" or "infringing my right to drive what I want" or so on and so on. I rail at the nanny state but we all need to be safe on the roads.

Rant over