Along these lines we came across a burnt out 'van the other day.
On the Bruxner H/way,30 Kms east of Tenterfield NSW last Thursday.
We were stopped by the police for 90 minutes due to a bush fire caused by a caravan catching fire.
Firstly, the good news is that the occupants had the strength of mind & the time to unhitch the tug.
The police said they were OK.
It happened on a narrow part of the road with no shoulder to get off to.
When the road was opened,one lane at a time we drove past what looked like burnt spaghetti melted into the road surface.
Amazing how no shape was left. Scarey.
A blessing that the occupants of the tug got clear.
I think the older ones were more vulnerable. Whilst learning to drive trucks at Wagga Wagga in 1969 we were on the "Hume",,,, trucks in those days ie IPEC and overnight line haul MELB-SYD were well known to do the old 80MPH (about 128Kph) and I was doing 80MPH near Tarcutta one night in my old EH and was passed by a line haul truck a big KW cab over.
Indeed up till about 1973-74 IPEC were allowed to do 70MPH (about 112Kph) provided they were dual steer.
After numerous crossings of the Hay plains I have seen and heard of older vans circa 1950-60's disintegrating when pantechs went past in opposite direction, REMEMBER the Sturt H'way was only about 9 feet (about 2.8m) wide in each lane in those days,,, so you missed trucks by about 1-1.5 feet (30-45cm approx) or so regularly to just to stay on bitumen.
At times the truck bow waves were horrendous I can tell you, and the tail had a bite also.
Just my older observations and experience.
-- Edited by Baz421 on Sunday 26th of October 2014 05:55:18 PM
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Why is it so? Professor Julius Sumner Miller, a profound influence on my life, who explained science to us on TV in the 60's.
God - try driving on the Coastal Highway north of Carnavon (WA). The road is so narrow, so busy and so many huge road trains servicing not only the various towns up north, but the numerous mining camps and sites. And the poor truckies are forced to do more than the legal speed of 110kmph. I had an ALKO anti sway system fitted to my new 'van and the clearview mirrors on my tug - at least when the road train pass you either way my van doesn't get sucked into them or my mirrors slammed into the door panel.
One of the worst "highways" (haha) in Aust given the traffic and the size of most of them
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
Queensland country roads are the worst I've been on over the years, the road between three ways and Townsville was one of the worst, not to mention the development roads (mostly single shared lanes and soft edges so you can't pull off properly without getting bogged).
