If you are travelling around western australia you will absolutely have to share the roads with massive oversize loads and the vehicles transporting them.
These loads are up to 9 metres wide and can weigh more than 300 tonnes.
Nomads will spend well in excess of $100,000 on a van and vehicle combination but won't invest $300 on a cb radio which may well save their lives. ( and when they do have a radio they invariably will not have it tuned to channel 40).
All of these oversize loads are escorted by pilots and wardens who together with the driver will get you safely around the load. BUT you must communicate with them. The lead Pilot of an escorted load will be up to 2 kilometres ahead of the load he is the one telling you it is safe to overtake ,if you listen.
The rear pilot is there to prevent you from overtaking if it is unsafe or if they are closing the road for a narrow point such as a bridge or rail crossing.
They rear pilot also alerts the driver to move over when you are passing remember the drivers cannot see you the pilots are their eyes front and back.
So please invest in a radio or 2 if you want to chat to your traveling companions. Keep it tuned to channel 40 and you will get around these giants safely and without too much inconvenience.
On a separate note there an awful lot of hire camper vans and Motor homes with drivers who have had little or no training and none of them have radios putting all of us at risk but maybe we save that for another day
Safe travel
Ps i am a grey nomad who travels extensively and also a qualified oversize pilot and i am frightened by the lack of experience wandering around out there
Peter_n_Margaret said
12:23 AM Jul 17, 2019
It is not a legal requirement to have a cb radio in a vehicle and the escorts will make you aware of large loads whether you have one, or not. In any case, a 9m wide load will also have a police escort and there will be numerous flashing lights to make other road users aware.
Just the same, having a radio is a good idea, but it will not help if it is not on Ch 40, which is also optional.
Cheers,
Peter
iana said
09:01 AM Jul 17, 2019
Another thing that might help, is to educate the truckies not to jam the channel talking about their weekend fishing or other prattle. Language could be improved also.
Whenarewethere said
09:16 PM Jul 17, 2019
We had plenty of warning to get off the road & ready to take a photo. They have removed 2 of the rear wheels to reduce weight.
The house was doing 115 kph, I gave up trying to keep up! Initially I thought the police were after me, but 2 cars side by side on the road it was pretty obvious that something large & fast was on its way.
Having a good CB and monitoring channel 40 may not be compulsory but it is very smart.
I have found that these over width loads give plenty of warning over the radio they are coming and often how wide they are.
If they are only up to about 4 metres wide I just slow down and get over a bit but if they tell me more than that I find a place to pull off and wait for them. The radio just gives me plenty of time to do that.
Not only that but the CB is handy to get trucks past you without the truckie getting upset and also monitoring controlled road works.
We have also had some laughs like the time near Gympie that the local village idiot was going off at all the truckies and they were revving him up. Went on for about 30 minutes until we were out of range.
Do agree that a good few could tone the language down. It gets a bit much with every second word being the F word in some of the conversations.
JayDee said
08:09 AM Sep 15, 2019
WOW!!!!
It appears to me that the long rig photo has about 106 wheels.
My view is that a standard semi trailers has 22 wheels.
A standard double B has 34 wheels.
I hope we do not bump into one of any of those big rigs in the photos.
They certainly will get right of way.
Jay&Dee
Possum3 said
08:45 AM Sep 15, 2019
JayDee wrote:
WOW!!!!
It appears to me that the long rig photo has about 106 wheels.
My view is that a standard semi trailers has 22 wheels.
Jay&Dee
The are nicknamed "Eighteen Wheelers" for a specific reason.
dogbox said
08:54 AM Sep 15, 2019
Possum3 wrote:
JayDee wrote:
WOW!!!!
It appears to me that the long rig photo has about 106 wheels.
My view is that a standard semi trailers has 22 wheels.
Jay&Dee
The are nicknamed "Eighteen Wheelers" for a specific reason.
18 wheeler is an American nickname that petty much past on when tri-axle trailers became the norm
Rob Driver said
09:07 AM Sep 15, 2019
Greg 1 wrote:
Having a good CB and monitoring channel 40 may not be compulsory but it is very smart. I have found that these over width loads give plenty of warning over the radio they are coming and often how wide they are. If they are only up to about 4 metres wide I just slow down and get over a bit but if they tell me more than that I find a place to pull off and wait for them. The radio just gives me plenty of time to do that. Not only that but the CB is handy to get trucks past you without the truckie getting upset and also monitoring controlled road works. We have also had some laughs like the time near Gympie that the local village idiot was going off at all the truckies and they were revving him up. Went on for about 30 minutes until we were out of range. Do agree that a good few could tone the language down. It gets a bit much with every second word being the F word in some of the conversations.
I cannot agree more with the above and the comments of the OP.
Having spent my entire working life on the highway I just dont understand the mentality of a CB is not compulsory so lets all not have one.
These radios are a tool which greatly increases the safety of moving oversize loads around our country and as been pointed out, they allow pilots, escorts and police to communicate with accurate information. The information of width dimension can not be possibly relayed to an oncoming vehicles by pilots or police unless you have a UHF radio and are on channel 40.
Directions of when to pass is also something else that can not be communicated unless by verbal contact.
For an average cost of $300 for a radio of reasonable quality it becomes a no brainer when most have outlaid many thousands of dollars for their rig.
Also one other tip is anyone with a radio have it on channel 40 as very few trucks will communicate with you on 18, particularly when it involves overdimensional operations.
Regards
Rob
dogbox said
01:27 PM Sep 15, 2019
can you remember back to the days they were illegal when fitted to vehicles about that time radar detectors where also made illegal
Greg 1 said
02:41 PM Sep 15, 2019
In WA cb radios have always been legal as long as I can remember and I remember when they first started to be used. God! I think I am getting old.
Kev Timms said
08:54 PM Dec 12, 2019
Having your radio tuned to channel 40 certainly helps to keep the peace between caravanners and truckies in general. A bit of common courtesy and road etiquette goes a long way towards keeping the big rig drivers happy. It's not an easy job and time is money for them. If I see a big rig behind me I communicate with him and let him know that I will button off to allow him to overtake at the first safe available open stretch of road. We're not on a deadline and makes little difference to our time of arrival. Recently I let a truck overtake me and he gave me the heads up that I hadn't secured a hatch properly. Good man that man.
Cheers to all fellow travellers.
-- Edited by Kev Timms on Thursday 12th of December 2019 08:55:55 PM
-- Edited by Kev Timms on Thursday 12th of December 2019 08:56:17 PM
Just the same, having a radio is a good idea, but it will not help if it is not on Ch 40, which is also optional.
Cheers,
Peter
We had plenty of warning to get off the road & ready to take a photo. They have removed 2 of the rear wheels to reduce weight.
The house was doing 115 kph, I gave up trying to keep up! Initially I thought the police were after me, but 2 cars side by side on the road it was pretty obvious that something large & fast was on its way.
WOW!!!!
It appears to me that the long rig photo has about 106 wheels.
My view is that a standard semi trailers has 22 wheels.
A standard double B has 34 wheels.
I hope we do not bump into one of any of those big rigs in the photos.
They certainly will get right of way.
Jay&Dee
The are nicknamed "Eighteen Wheelers" for a specific reason.
18 wheeler is an American nickname that petty much past on when tri-axle trailers became the norm
I cannot agree more with the above and the comments of the OP.
Having spent my entire working life on the highway I just dont understand the mentality of a CB is not compulsory so lets all not have one.
These radios are a tool which greatly increases the safety of moving oversize loads around our country and as been pointed out, they allow pilots, escorts and police to communicate with accurate information. The information of width dimension can not be possibly relayed to an oncoming vehicles by pilots or police unless you have a UHF radio and are on channel 40.
Directions of when to pass is also something else that can not be communicated unless by verbal contact.
For an average cost of $300 for a radio of reasonable quality it becomes a no brainer when most have outlaid many thousands of dollars for their rig.
Also one other tip is anyone with a radio have it on channel 40 as very few trucks will communicate with you on 18, particularly when it involves overdimensional operations.
Regards
Rob
Having your radio tuned to channel 40 certainly helps to keep the peace between caravanners and truckies in general.
A bit of common courtesy and road etiquette goes a long way towards keeping the big rig drivers happy.
It's not an easy job and time is money for them.
If I see a big rig behind me I communicate with him and let him know that I will button off to allow him to overtake at the first safe available open stretch of road.
We're not on a deadline and makes little difference to our time of arrival.
Recently I let a truck overtake me and he gave me the heads up that I hadn't secured a hatch properly. Good man that man.
Cheers to all fellow travellers.
-- Edited by Kev Timms on Thursday 12th of December 2019 08:55:55 PM
-- Edited by Kev Timms on Thursday 12th of December 2019 08:56:17 PM