There was a blitz on ALL vehicles passing through Cobar recently in both directions, no one escaped.
The usual breatherlizer, rego etc plus a tow couplings/ hitches & saftey chains & D-shackles. Also checking unsecured loads including those packing blocks, hoses etc that get placed on the mesh often fitted to van A-Frames.
In our home town they are now checking for rated chains, shackles etc.
Appears its starting to happen every where now so be prepared.
INFO from a very close friend at home who passed through the Cobar blitz & local info from a engineering business in town who had just been pulled over for the chain/shackle check.
There are many unsecured loads of fire wood up this way, only today we saw a 5ft length of tree limb lost on the roadway from a vehicle.
JC.
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Hey there JC & L
many thanks for the heads up, much appreciated.
I think I am pretty right with my set up all secured and rated shackles as well, I am the only "loose" thing on board haha.
hope you are both well
we are leaving rockhampton in the morning and heading towards biloela and wuruma. not sure where from there but we will work it out when the need arises
you travel safe and please say hi to L from both of us.
good to hear from you
frank
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Kathy and Frank currently at Home near Quirindi NSW
Is this news first or second hand from around the camp fire?
I was at dinner tonight with friends talking about our trips of late when the other party brought it up that they were around a camp fire talking, another traveller was saying got booked out western Queensland for this and that including carrying fuel on the back of t caravan.
Qld police are doing the same. about a week between Emerald and Cappella they were pulling every thing over.
cars trucks caravans. they were weighing caravans as well as trucks. I saw 3 vans that were pulled to the
side,one was draining water to bring weight down. the other two were waiting for tow trucks to take them to a caravan park so they could take off weight and arrange transport of stuff they were unloading. The vans were
defected for
carrying to much weight they had to have van re weight to have sticker removed. they were also checking all the
above in first post. This is not here say I was there I spoke to people who owned vans that were defected and
one of the police officers there is a close relative. He said it is just the start of things to come and it will be going
Australia wide.
AL
-- Edited by al on Sunday 24th of August 2014 10:17:13 AM
Qld police are doing the same. about a week between Emerald and Cappella they were pulling every thing over.
cars trucks caravans. they were weighing caravans as well as trucks. I saw 3 vans that were pulled to the
side,was draining water to bring weight down. the other two were waiting for tow trucks to take them to a carvan park so they could take off weight and arrange transport of stuff they were unloading. The vans were
defected for
carrying to much weight they had to have van re weight to have sticker removed. they were also checking all the
above in first post. This is not here say I was there I spoke to people who owned vans that were defected and
one of the police officers there is a close relative. He said it is just the start of things to come and it will be going
Australia wide.
AL
When common sense fails the law prevails; too many have been pushing the limmits so it has to happen.
Trucks have to abide by strict weight limits so why not vans, tugs, & m/homes.
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Last time we were over that way the police had a roadblock just outside Cloncurry and were booking caravanners for having insect mesh over their front grilles if they covered the number plate.
I had my number plate screwed on the outside of the mesh so I was ok. Their was a plague of grasshoppers over there a that time of the year.
Gettng knocked off for having a jerrycan on the read bar is, as I understand it.
The offence it is having an unprotected fuel tank.
I am lead to belive that you can not carry fuel on the rear of your vehicle or vehicle combination,
If you are towing a van you can heave a jerry can on your tug as it is deemed to be protected.
I have been trying to find the law on QLD transport web site but it is a bugger of a site to navigate around.
This is only as i understand the rule.
Cheers
The Hats
-- Edited by The Hats on Sunday 24th of August 2014 01:40:14 PM
I checked out about carrying fuel on the back of the van with QLD transport. Only diesel can be carried on the back, and it must not be outside the bumper bar.
justcruisin01 wrote
"When common sense fails the law prevails; too many have been pushing the limmits so it has to happen.
Trucks have to abide by strict weight limits so why not vans, tugs, & m/homes."
The issue is that we all buy our vans, in good faith that all is OK as we take it away, then find the law has all kinds of issues, thanks to the lack of Quality Control by many manufacturers.
Seems to me a class action against the manufacturers is the way to go, they cause the problems and we end up wearing it.
Our VIN plate tells lies, even after getting it "fixed" it is still wrong. We have a two tonne axle, so you would think that any weight up to 2000kg GTM would be legal, but because the VIN says 1600, we are theoretically illegal at a GTM of about 1700. Our Freedom is the model with bathroom, water heater and two water tanks, but the VIN is for the standard model.
How do you convince the cops?
Bevan
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Bevan
Friendship is not a relationship with someone whom you've known for a long time, but with someone you trust, under any circumstances.
Were there fines attached to these defecting notices....I appreciate if the intent is to 'right' the loads, shackles, fuel carry etc and it makes sense they don't remove defects until 'righted'..however if it is another cynical exercise in raising revenue then the real intent will get out of hand with quotas to be filled by pedantic plods...
We've all looked in amazement at some of the 4WD and Caravan set ups that we see in front of us on the road...boats, kayaks, bikes, fishing rods, fuel, water jerrys, plus plus in addition to normal internal chattel 'overloads'.......I accept I had perhaps too much furniture/weight in the furniture Van that just overturned both Van and my Land Rover Disco 4WD when the 'perfect storm' combination of trailer wheel blow out and severe cross winds hit my rig...uncontrollable...first accident in 49 years..I did have good shackles however as they did not let loose/break as I flipped over and over...I won't be overloaded again and I have never travelled/towing above 90 km/h anywhere, anytime....
P.S. Billleeee <is that spelt right?>...you are perhaps spending far tooo much time in the sun mate..you're photo shows you're getting all wrinkly.....!.....you're seex appeal is dehydrating away...lol.....Hoo Roo
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The older we get the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.......
I rang the Armidale Police station querying D shackle compliance and was told by a Highway Patrol officer that they were going by the weight that is written on the D itself, so if the D says 1T then it is one tonne.
justcruisin01 wrote "When common sense fails the law prevails; too many have been pushing the limmits so it has to happen.
Trucks have to abide by strict weight limits so why not vans, tugs, & m/homes."
The issue is that we all buy our vans, in good faith that all is OK as we take it away, then find the law has all kinds of issues, thanks to the lack of Quality Control by many manufacturers. Seems to me a class action against the manufacturers is the way to go, they cause the problems and we end up wearing it.
Our VIN plate tells lies, even after getting it "fixed" it is still wrong. We have a two tonne axle, so you would think that any weight up to 2000kg GTM would be legal, but because the VIN says 1600, we are theoretically illegal at a GTM of about 1700. Our Freedom is the model with bathroom, water heater and two water tanks, but the VIN is for the standard model.
How do you convince the cops?
Bevan
I think if you were able to buy a new van then I would be requesting a weight ticket & be there when its done.
Some of the rigs out there have that much external mounted equipment that they would be over the weight before you put anything in side.
Outboard motors, trailers, jerrys, tool boxes, pole tubes, extra water tanks, bikes, etc etc.
Just an example that we saw recently; a commodore wagon which must have had air bags because it sat nose down like a drag car.
A 16/17 ft single axle Montanna van, on the rear bumper there were three pole tubes, three jerry cans, a tool box that was about a jenny size, outboard motor, & a b/trailer.
Across the front A-frame was a large dirt motor bike.
You would have to be kidding; looked so wrong that it was beyond belief.
This kind of thing is what brings us all under survailence.
JC.
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justcruisin01 wrote "When common sense fails the law prevails; too many have been pushing the limmits so it has to happen.
Trucks have to abide by strict weight limits so why not vans, tugs, & m/homes."
The issue is that we all buy our vans, in good faith that all is OK as we take it away, then find the law has all kinds of issues, thanks to the lack of Quality Control by many manufacturers. Seems to me a class action against the manufacturers is the way to go, they cause the problems and we end up wearing it.
Our VIN plate tells lies, even after getting it "fixed" it is still wrong. We have a two tonne axle, so you would think that any weight up to 2000kg GTM would be legal, but because the VIN says 1600, we are theoretically illegal at a GTM of about 1700. Our Freedom is the model with bathroom, water heater and two water tanks, but the VIN is for the standard model.
How do you convince the cops?
Bevan
Unfortunately, the onus is on the owner of the rig to be within the law. Buyer beware and all that. There are certainly caravan dealers (and vehicle ones too: "yes, that will tow that") who will be less than honest in their efforts to get a sale. In some instances, I think some dealer staff just don't know, themselves.
There needs to be a great deal more regulation of the caravan industry than there is - and significant penalties for those who transgress.
If there was a separate licence to tow a caravan, then educating caravan purchasers about weights etc could be part of it - then buyers would know what they should be looking for.
Just wondering, when weights are checked, do the passengers have to stay in the vehicle? I just put my motorhome over a weighbridge and, with me in it, it was 4.48t. If I got caught, I could always empty the water tanks, but with my wife (who is definitely not overweight), dogs and food, we would most likely be over the limit.
Just wondering, when weights are checked, do the passengers have to stay in the vehicle? I just put my motorhome over a weighbridge and, with me in it, it was 4.48t. If I got caught, I could always empty the water tanks, but with my wife (who is definitely not overweight), dogs and food, we would most likely be over the limit.
My Bus is still in the build Stage..
I plan to take the bus over the weight bridge with Full tank's Drinking/ grey and Black water to see how it goes..
Full load of fuel, spare fuel and Fully loaded to see how it goes..
Last time I checked I was at 3.6 ton and have done some modification since..
But yeah I can understand where they are coming from..
Juergen
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So can i Juergen, but it gets a bit confusing when the GVM of the base vehicle is 5.2t but the whole unit is rated on the secondary compliance plate and rego papers as 4.995t. I'd prefer the higher weight, more to spare so it's not overweight.
