Yea, had some nasty experiences on the Newell highway last year with double B's. Mostly good drivers but there were lots of cowboys. We found ourselves being pushed very hard by two of them travelling very fast as we were approaching Parks. Not only was it a long downhill run but there was two of them running very close together.
we eventually managed to get out of their way but I was so mad, it could have been a disaster if for instance I had blown a tyre.
so I now have a policy, that anyone who does that to us, I will take his number, company, location, etc and report it to his company and the Police. The police at Parks said that they get a number of complaints a day about this stuff and if you report it with details they will follow it up as they, unfortunately have seen the results of this sort of Behavour.
i for one will never travel the Newell highway again.
briche
-- Edited by briche on Friday 14th of February 2014 10:28:17 AM
-- Edited by briche on Friday 14th of February 2014 10:29:36 AM
Santa said
01:03 PM Feb 14, 2014
briche wrote:
Yea, had some nasty experiences on the Newell highway last year with double B's. Mostly good drivers but there were lots of cowboys. We found ourselves being pushed very hard by two of them travelling very fast as we were approaching Parks. Not only was it a long downhill run but there was two of them running very close together.
we eventually managed to get out of their way but I was so mad, it could have been a disaster if for instance I had blown a tyre.
so I now have a policy, that anyone who does that to us, I will take his number, company, location, etc and report it to his company and the Police. The police at Parks said that they get a number of complaints a day about this stuff and if you report it with details they will follow it up as they, unfortunately have seen the results of this sort of Behavour.
i for one will never travel the Newell highway again.
briche
-- Edited by briche on Friday 14th of February 2014 10:28:17 AM
-- Edited by briche on Friday 14th of February 2014 10:29:36 AM
Did you talk to the guys on your CB CH40, we do a lot of miles in a motor home every year and never experience the problems mentioned here, see a truck coming up behind > talk to him and let him know your aware of his presence and will let him through as soon as its safe, works every time.
There are some good letters to the editor in the latest Grey Nomads Times on this very issue, a couple from the truckies perspective put a different slant on the matter.
Not saying truckies are angels, however they are out there trying to earn a living, I don't blame em for getting uptight about being held up by dodderers traveling below the legal limit, who are unaware there's a truck behind or pigheadedly simply refuse to let em through.
PS I travel the Newell 2 or three times a year and am fine with it, sure there are trucks, there are also slow moving poorly loaded caravans which are much more annoying.
-- Edited by Santa on Friday 14th of February 2014 01:06:32 PM
-- Edited by Santa on Friday 14th of February 2014 01:16:53 PM
Baz421 said
01:58 PM Feb 14, 2014
I too avoid the Newell Hway these days,, too many risks now and being involved in significant risk management programs previously ,, it aint worth the risk IMHO.
Bruce Hway Nth of Brissy to Gympie likewise,, I've had harrowing experiences there before.
My brother drove Adelaide to QLD regularly with HC rig,, also hated the Newell,,, too many risk takers especially B doubles,, tailgating, passing when unsafe and relying on others to brake/move or take avoiding action.
We took back roads again in 2013 to QLD and loved the serenity and sights plus the small places we found,, some not even on the map.
Happywanderer said
02:24 PM Feb 14, 2014
I've just arrived at Nerrandera travelling on the Newell today. Heaps of trucks on the road. Never had a problem with any of them. At times had them behind me wanting to overtake, which they did when safe thankfully and I pulled back to let them get past safely.
Must have been a good bunch on the road today.
briche said
06:40 PM Feb 14, 2014
To put it the complete picture the trucks were actually travelling behind a a road crew truck and they were getting push as well, so we had this convoy that really was a bit out of control as there was nowhere to move to. As far as the truck drivers are concerned as I said in the post most are really good to talk to and will work with you for everyone's benefit
. I realise that they have schedules to keep but unfortunately there are the cowboys that put that schedule before all else. As far as I am concerned they might have schedules to keep but it's a shared road for all not just them.
as I said in the main no problems but there are the exceptions.
briche
Dougwe said
06:55 PM Feb 14, 2014
Howdy all,
I understand where you are all coming from but I must have been lucky. I travelled the full length of the Newell 3 times last year and didn't experience any real problems, I do however communicate over the UHF with all trucks I see coming up from the rear and let them know that I will move over ASAP and slow down for them to pass safely. In always got a positive reply and even a chat from some about my travels. As I said, maybe I was just lucky.
I get worse than the Newell on the Bass Hwy here in sth west Gippsland, even the south Gippsland hwy.
hako said
10:44 PM Feb 14, 2014
Santa wrote:
Did you talk to the guys on your CB CH40, we do a lot of miles in a motor home every year and never experience the problems mentioned here, see a truck coming up behind > talk to him and let him know your aware of his presence and will let him through as soon as its safe, works every time.
-- Edited by Santa on Friday 14th of February 2014 01:06:32 PM
-- Edited by Santa on Friday 14th of February 2014 01:16:53 PM
G'Day Santa, Excuse my ignorance but I've seen mentioned before about talking to whoever is behind and "let him through" - this is the bit I do not understand!
The scenario is that I'm in my Falcadore towing a 17 footer at 85kph closely followed by a B double. Now I, like most grey nomads are not familiar with the road I am on whereas the bloke in the B double does this run twice a week so he knows where the breaks are. He also has much better vision than I do of the road ahead as he is sitting almost 3 metres above the road.
I do not understand how or what "let him through means". I also do not understand what talking to him on the CB will achieve because I know that the B double will overtake me when he sees fit, and when he is parallel to me I will ease the throttle back a bit to help him past (like most grey nomads), and then double flash when he is clear so he can pull in.
Dougwe - I also cannot see how you can "move over", after all, you are required to keep as far as practical to the left as possible at all times.
Am I missing something here?
ps...I should add that I've never had a problem, but I'm willing to listen, learn and ask questions.
Regards
RosieW said
05:06 PM Feb 15, 2014
I imagine pulling over means pulling off into the rest-stops/laybys so they can pass - there were a lot of those on the - can't-remember-the-name-highway - coming back from Adelaide in December 2012.
Dougwe said
06:33 PM Feb 15, 2014
'Move over' means simply if possible slow down a little and move just a little more to the left or rest area or similar. In most cases there is a little bit of space to the left so by slowing down a little it keeps everyone on the move and happy.
As an ex heavy vehicle driver for many many years I can appreciate things from both sides maybe. UHF is a great tool if used correctly, as with most things in life, communication is the key. The road is for you, me and them.
antigoon said
09:04 PM Feb 15, 2014
I recently travelled the Newell, Leichardt and up the Bruce to Innisfail before heading south through Charters Towers and down the Gregory. I had one issue with an impatient truckie while travelling at the reduced speed limit north of Cardwell, he did not want to slow to 80kmh. More frequently the issue was travellers, including two sporting a Grey Nomads sticker. These travellers kept left but had the unfortunate habit of accelerating to well over 110 kmh while being overtaken. Over the years I have had fewer issues with semis, B-doubles and road trains than I have had with my fellow travellers.
hako said
10:27 PM Feb 15, 2014
Dougwe wrote:
'Move over' means simply if possible slow down a little and move just a little more to the left or rest area or similar. In most cases there is a little bit of space to the left so by slowing down a little it keeps everyone on the move and happy.
As an ex heavy vehicle driver for many many years I can appreciate things from both sides maybe. UHF is a great tool if used correctly, as with most things in life, communication is the key. The road is for you, me and them.
Thanks for the reply Doug, but that sure ain't going to help if I've got a road train on my rear end and I'm doing 90kph....if I slow down and move to the left the road train will rearend me unless he can overtake me at that moment.
But basically one cannot replicate real time situations in a forum as there are so many variables.
Re correct use of UHF - I recently went with one of my sons when he was moving a float from Mackay to Roma - we were behind an escorted load near Sarina and listening to the UHF...some idiot gets on and tries to imitate the police and the escort vehicle telling them to pull over, blown tire etc etc. The UHF then went silent and son told me that this was not unusual. Makes you wonder eh!
Regards
The Phantom said
10:32 PM Feb 15, 2014
I was on the Hume Highway a couple of weeks ago and monitoring Ch40.
Comment from a truckie "Have a look at the silver Commodore. Got a f***ing laptop on his knee. D*ckhead"
It's not all truck drivers that are a danger on the roads.
the Phantom
Santa said
10:43 PM Feb 15, 2014
The Phantom wrote:
I was on the Hume Highway a couple of weeks ago and monitoring Ch40.
Comment from a truckie "Have a look at the silver Commodore. Got a f***ing laptop on his knee. D*ckhead"
It's not all truck drivers that are a danger on the roads.
the Phantom
Spot on, make truckies an asset don't alienate them.
Delta18 said
10:55 PM Feb 15, 2014
hako wrote:
G'Day Santa, Excuse my ignorance but I've seen mentioned before about talking to whoever is behind and "let him through" - this is the bit I do not understand!
The scenario is that I'm in my Falcadore towing a 17 footer at 85kph closely followed by a B double. Now I, like most grey nomads are not familiar with the road I am on whereas the bloke in the B double does this run twice a week so he knows where the breaks are. He also has much better vision than I do of the road ahead as he is sitting almost 3 metres above the road.
I do not understand how or what "let him through means". I also do not understand what talking to him on the CB will achieve because I know that the B double will overtake me when he sees fit, and when he is parallel to me I will ease the throttle back a bit to help him past (like most grey nomads), and then double flash when he is clear so he can pull in.
Dougwe - I also cannot see how you can "move over", after all, you are required to keep as far as practical to the left as possible at all times.
Am I missing something here?
ps...I should add that I've never had a problem, but I'm willing to listen, learn and ask questions.
Regards
The thing you need to remember is that the truckie does not know whether you know he is coming.
The scary thing for a truckie is to pull out to pass a van and the van driver suddenly panics because he didn't know the truck was coming and gets the wobbles, or worse.
It does a lot for the truckies confidence (and heart rate) if a simple acknowledgement by you "westbound coming up to the xxxxx van when you pull out I will back off a little" is all that is needed. When he does pull out, and not until then, lift your foot off the throttle - count to 5 then put it back where it was! This will give the speed difference to enable a quick pass without you losing control.
Do not move off the road, unless it is a one lane bitumen road as he does not like gravel on the front of his truck, just hold your position & speed.
Bunkerbob said
11:28 PM Feb 15, 2014
As a Grey nomad towing a large van and still a truckie, although a lot less hours than I used to, and currently driving an 8 wheel truck towing 2 trailers. 36.5 metres long, weighing in at over 120 tonne legal, loaded, i was going to comment but decided not to. Apart from saying that Delta18 - Spot On.
Bob
Baz421 said
08:52 PM Feb 16, 2014
Bunkerbob wrote:
As a Grey nomad towing a large van and still a truckie, although a lot less hours than I used to, and currently driving an 8 wheel truck towing 2 trailers. 36.5 metres long, weighing in at over 120 tonne legal, loaded, i was going to comment but decided not to. Apart from saying that Delta18 - Spot On.
Bob
Might as well comment Bob,, everyone else does.
My concern with reading some of these posts is that some seem to advocate slowing down while a big rig is approaching/passing,,, there was a family killed in SA a few years ago, they lost control of van while vehicle was being passed by semi,,, unfortunately I can't find a copy of the coroners findings.
Need to have the power on when being passed.
Baz421 said
09:42 PM Feb 16, 2014
This is how some drivers look in our rear caravan camera,,,,,, especially as they slipstream up behind and pull out at the last minute.
this story ILLAWARRA MERCURY nsw on 12/2/14 truckies who wanted to remain anonymous
worked for trucking company McCabe Transport said drivers were working 18 to 23 hours a day
and were forced to drive up to 7000 klms a week not uncommon to drive from sydney to port pirie
and back in 48 hours if the general public really knew the true story we would not be on the roads
he said not one of you would cut in front of them because most of the time they were on (auto pilot)
some shoot up on heroin, take routes they know with no inspectors or weigh bridges ,forced to drive
defect trucks he said (THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE ALL DRIVERS)
GEE and some people worry because some of us need help when reversing in parking spots
safe travels suenray
Here is the story, terrible if true.
http://tinyurl.com/nb9ckyw
Yea, had some nasty experiences on the Newell highway last year with double B's. Mostly good drivers but there were lots of cowboys. We found ourselves being pushed very hard by two of them travelling very fast as we were approaching Parks. Not only was it a long downhill run but there was two of them running very close together.
we eventually managed to get out of their way but I was so mad, it could have been a disaster if for instance I had blown a tyre.
so I now have a policy, that anyone who does that to us, I will take his number, company, location, etc and report it to his company and the Police. The police at Parks said that they get a number of complaints a day about this stuff and if you report it with details they will follow it up as they, unfortunately have seen the results of this sort of Behavour.
i for one will never travel the Newell highway again.
briche
-- Edited by briche on Friday 14th of February 2014 10:28:17 AM
-- Edited by briche on Friday 14th of February 2014 10:29:36 AM
Did you talk to the guys on your CB CH40, we do a lot of miles in a motor home every year and never experience the problems mentioned here, see a truck coming up behind > talk to him and let him know your aware of his presence and will let him through as soon as its safe, works every time.
There are some good letters to the editor in the latest Grey Nomads Times on this very issue, a couple from the truckies perspective put a different slant on the matter.
Not saying truckies are angels, however they are out there trying to earn a living, I don't blame em for getting uptight about being held up by dodderers traveling below the legal limit, who are unaware there's a truck behind or pigheadedly simply refuse to let em through.
PS I travel the Newell 2 or three times a year and am fine with it, sure there are trucks, there are also slow moving poorly loaded caravans which are much more annoying.
-- Edited by Santa on Friday 14th of February 2014 01:06:32 PM
-- Edited by Santa on Friday 14th of February 2014 01:16:53 PM
I too avoid the Newell Hway these days,, too many risks now and being involved in significant risk management programs previously ,, it aint worth the risk IMHO.
Bruce Hway Nth of Brissy to Gympie likewise,, I've had harrowing experiences there before.
My brother drove Adelaide to QLD regularly with HC rig,, also hated the Newell,,, too many risk takers especially B doubles,, tailgating, passing when unsafe and relying on others to brake/move or take avoiding action.
We took back roads again in 2013 to QLD and loved the serenity and sights plus the small places we found,, some not even on the map.
Must have been a good bunch on the road today.
To put it the complete picture the trucks were actually travelling behind a a road crew truck and they were getting push as well, so we had this convoy that really was a bit out of control as there was nowhere to move to. As far as the truck drivers are concerned as I said in the post most are really good to talk to and will work with you for everyone's benefit
. I realise that they have schedules to keep but unfortunately there are the cowboys that put that schedule before all else. As far as I am concerned they might have schedules to keep but it's a shared road for all not just them.
as I said in the main no problems but there are the exceptions.
briche
I understand where you are all coming from but I must have been lucky. I travelled the full length of the Newell 3 times last year and didn't experience any real problems, I do however communicate over the UHF with all trucks I see coming up from the rear and let them know that I will move over ASAP and slow down for them to pass safely. In always got a positive reply and even a chat from some about my travels. As I said, maybe I was just lucky.
I get worse than the Newell on the Bass Hwy here in sth west Gippsland, even the south Gippsland hwy.
G'Day Santa, Excuse my ignorance but I've seen mentioned before about talking to whoever is behind and "let him through" - this is the bit I do not understand!
The scenario is that I'm in my Falcadore towing a 17 footer at 85kph closely followed by a B double. Now I, like most grey nomads are not familiar with the road I am on whereas the bloke in the B double does this run twice a week so he knows where the breaks are. He also has much better vision than I do of the road ahead as he is sitting almost 3 metres above the road.
I do not understand how or what "let him through means". I also do not understand what talking to him on the CB will achieve because I know that the B double will overtake me when he sees fit, and when he is parallel to me I will ease the throttle back a bit to help him past (like most grey nomads), and then double flash when he is clear so he can pull in.
Dougwe - I also cannot see how you can "move over", after all, you are required to keep as far as practical to the left as possible at all times.
Am I missing something here?
ps...I should add that I've never had a problem, but I'm willing to listen, learn and ask questions.
Regards
As an ex heavy vehicle driver for many many years I can appreciate things from both sides maybe. UHF is a great tool if used correctly, as with most things in life, communication is the key. The road is for you, me and them.
Thanks for the reply Doug, but that sure ain't going to help if I've got a road train on my rear end and I'm doing 90kph....if I slow down and move to the left the road train will rearend me unless he can overtake me at that moment.
But basically one cannot replicate real time situations in a forum as there are so many variables.
Re correct use of UHF - I recently went with one of my sons when he was moving a float from Mackay to Roma - we were behind an escorted load near Sarina and listening to the UHF...some idiot gets on and tries to imitate the police and the escort vehicle telling them to pull over, blown tire etc etc. The UHF then went silent and son told me that this was not unusual. Makes you wonder eh!
Regards
I was on the Hume Highway a couple of weeks ago and monitoring Ch40.
Comment from a truckie "Have a look at the silver Commodore. Got a f***ing laptop on his knee. D*ckhead"
It's not all truck drivers that are a danger on the roads.
the Phantom
The thing you need to remember is that the truckie does not know whether you know he is coming.
The scary thing for a truckie is to pull out to pass a van and the van driver suddenly panics because he didn't know the truck was coming and gets the wobbles, or worse.
It does a lot for the truckies confidence (and heart rate) if a simple acknowledgement by you "westbound coming up to the xxxxx van when you pull out I will back off a little" is all that is needed. When he does pull out, and not until then, lift your foot off the throttle - count to 5 then put it back where it was! This will give the speed difference to enable a quick pass without you losing control.
Do not move off the road, unless it is a one lane bitumen road as he does not like gravel on the front of his truck, just hold your position & speed.
Bob
Might as well comment Bob,, everyone else does.
My concern with reading some of these posts is that some seem to advocate slowing down while a big rig is approaching/passing,,, there was a family killed in SA a few years ago, they lost control of van while vehicle was being passed by semi,,, unfortunately I can't find a copy of the coroners findings.
Need to have the power on when being passed.
This is how some drivers look in our rear caravan camera,,,,
,, especially as they slipstream up behind and pull out at the last minute.