It seems that there has been a few van roll overs in out back oz of late just read about another on the GN website and I don't want to seem judge mental here but I am wondering just what may be behind these roll overs is it fatigue with us older driver pushing it to far each day " to get to point B at all cost " is it inexperience at towing , some times on dirt roads , is it not loading the van properly ( we have all seen the wagging van at some point in our travels ,) , is it over loaded rigs , is it forgetting for just a moment that we have the van behind us and turn too quickly in stead of smoothly turning back after over taking, mind you it's usually the van tower being over taken, is it dodging wild life this may sound bad to some but some times it is better to hit a roo ect rather than swerve to avoid it and roll the car and or van, lesser of two evils . Is it the suspension on caravans that are too soft or shock absorbers not heavy enough to slow the roll of the van, come to think of it mine dosent even have shockers it's the rubber block type, but I digress.
i have always said that towing a trailer no matter what size should be a seperate endorsement on our licence so the all these things can be addressed and talked about before being confronted on the road with a situation and a split second to decide what to do , but I guess what can be done to reduce this is the more important question at this point and who should do it is it a van sellers responsibility to adequately inform the purchaser how to load and tow a van safely , should chain of responsibility laws come into play like in the heavy transport industry, is it a police or Vic roads ( or what ever state or fed ) responsibility.
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When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace ! 24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff)
I think it may be all of the above. People have to be responsible at all times. I also think everyone should have to do a loading and towing course.
with overloading it's about time manufactures and dealers took responsibility ( duty of care) for the vehicles, vans and trailers that they sell. Rant over.
I really can't comment on the roll over as per above as I know nothing of it,but today I saw something I have never seen on our roads down here in South Gippsland.A four wheel drive towing a van 23 ft-25ft van in length,the tug appeared suitable for the task,but what got my attention was the ten metal gerry cans on the already over loaded heavy duty roof rack.Surely causing the tug to be top heavy and a possible cause for a roll over(assuming they were filled) .Apart from that ,the jerry cans were unsecured,making them missiles in the case of an accident.I don't think duty of care was thought of here.When you see people do things like that,it's no wonder why roll overs are common occurrences these days. End of my rant...................................cheers Peter.
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Some political leaders and babies nappies should be changed often for obvious reasons.
Some good points raised....towing a fuel tanker I am forever mindful of speed...in rain and poor visibility I will reduce my speed by 10km/h and also adjust for poor road conditions. This is in company with properly inflated tyres and a roadworthy vehicle.
Be safe....
Cheers
George & fatdog
Yep - drive to the conditions always - if you can't take an extra hour or so to get somewhere, you are going too far in one drive, my opinion, anyway. Keep your vehicle road ready.
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jules "Love is good for the human being!!" (Ben, aged 10)
I guess that it is a little like car accidents. There are more than one million new cars sold in Australia each year. Plus the caravan / camping industry is growing at a giant rate. I guess that all this equates to the fact that there are more units on the road than say 10 years ago, and the law of averages is that there will be far more accidents.
It is always a risk, every time we drive out of our driveway.
But if we drive to the conditions of the day, hopefully we will survive.
Safe driving and towing for us all.
Jay&Dee
Not trying to hijack this thread, but we have seen some very scary things with vannies over the last six weeks we have been on the road, including today where a sedan was towing a pop top van with no extension mirrors, couldn't see what was behind him - us with our van and I think around four vehicles, AND he was just poddling along oblivious to what was behind him - he couldn't see anything!!! We couldn't get past him due to on coming traffic, but at least two of the vehicles made a run for it, with some scary scenes, thankfully nothing happened. I don't think he had sway bars either.
I am ever so thankful that Pete has kept his truck licence from when he was working, I feel that with the extra training he did to get that stands us in good stead when on the road with some unbelievable things happening.
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Pejay are travelling in a 2014 Holden Colorado LTZ Twin Cab Ute + 2013 Coromal Element van
So many of these rollovers happen on dead straight roads. I think that a under inflated tyre on the tug is the main reason. I have stopped many a time to help fellow travellers who have blowen a left rear tyre, and everyone of them says that they nelly lost it trying to pull up. this is where most people need to be educated on the proper procedure in such an event to pull up safely.
When the tyre blows checkout how much clearance there is with the hitch and sway bars near NIL. If you don't carry a second bottle jack with you ,you have buckleys of changing the tyre by yourself.
Some of the comments here have missed my point IZA at no point did of would I condone driving at unsafe speed In Bad conditions the point I try to make is that there is a whole gambit of things that have to be concentrated on the whole time we are at the wheel not the least is changing road conditions and driving to them.
Hey Jim raises a good point I didn't consider in my list of things that need our attention TYRES those round black things don't last forever just because they still have heaps of tread on them does not mean that they are roadworthy like us they have a best before date it just not stamped on them like food at the super market but it's there as a four digit code first two are the week of the year the other two are the year it was made and it's only on one side of the tyre what's more if it's over four years old a tyre repairer is leagly NOT allowed to repair a puncture in it, same as those emergency tyre plugs they are un roadworthy only to be used to get you to a service station and replace the tyre.
Lozano 1956 makes a good point about duty of care regarding manufacturers not just selling the van knowing the buyer has the wrong car to tow that weight of van but letting them drive out of there yard knowing or they should know that the new owner cant put more than two pair of sox in it without being over weight .
As a farmer if I load a truck with wheat and it's only 10 kg over weight by law I am responsible for over loading the truck even though I don't have scales to weigh it, that's chain of responsibility law, why is there none of this in the caravan industry should we ( GNs ) as a group start agitating for this to happen.
I don't know how much weight we add to our van but perhaps there should some sort of formula to work out a safe number of kg over tare weight of the van and tow vehicle before it is allowed to tow a given van weight.
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When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace ! 24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff)
I think it may be all of the above. People have to be responsible at all times. I also think everyone should have to do a loading and towing course.
