After reading about the latest accident re caravans on the article on the forum, I was wondering what road would have the history of having the most van ( RV ) accidents in Australia.
With out checking Stats. I would have the Bruce Highway in Queensland as the No.1 contender.
Not the best subject to be talking about, but if your contributions here has people re thinking their driving practices, then I guess that it is worth the air time.
maybe The Indian Ocean Drive in WA, its only a short bit of road, not that old but per km its gotta be up there. I personally think its a good drive and also don't mind the bruce for the parts I have driven
cheers
blaze
I have just finished travelling the Pacific Hwy from QLD boarder to the Hume Hwy just out of Sydney and IMO is much worse in a lot of sections than the Bruce Hwy. I have no complaints about the Bruce.
I believe in driving to conditions and NO speeding at all. Also IMO I think 110kmh is way too fast for caravans and trucks 95kmh max for caravans but hey, I'm a nobody.
Keep Safe on the roads and out there.
-- Edited by Dougwe on Wednesday 25th of September 2019 04:56:06 PM
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The Bruce HWY is a caravanners Bermuda triangle. WHY??
I would say it has more caravan accidents than other roads for the simple reason it has a lot more caravans travel it than other roads. Nothing particularly bad about the road, its better than most we travel by a long way, just seems to be a mix of heavy traffic and lack of patience and common sense driving.
Can posters please elaborate on why this particular highway is so dangerous? Looking at the map, it certainly doesn't appear to present any problems. What really is the problem?
-- Edited by Lily2018 on Wednesday 25th of September 2019 07:41:48 PM
Recently while stopped at the side of the Great Central Road saw a caravan in tow screaming along the corrugations. It just looked out of control, plus the stones and dust suffocating oncoming traffic, or parked cars for that matter. Not the ideal road to have a tyre suddenly fail.
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Can posters please elaborate on why this particular highway is so dangerous? Looking at the map, it certainly doesn't appear to present any problems. What really is the problem?
-- Edited by Lily2018 on Wednesday 25th of September 2019 07:41:48 PM
The drivers that use it are the problem.
There are many worse roads than the Bruce Highway.
It is often interesting when TV reports accidents it is often on a "notorious" stretch of road. There is no mention that it may have been the driver at fault. No it is the roads problem. The simple solution is drive according to the conditions.
As for the Bruce Hwy, I have travelled it a number of times and have had no problems.
In my limited experience of the Bruce Hwy -just this week- the participants are lunatics. Everyone is in such a damn hurry with no regard to speed vs pace.
They arent getting anywhere Quickly but in a terrible rush to do so. Modern society has built a rat-race that folks are somehow dreaming they are not the rats.
As an advocate of increased speeds on good roads, this observation distresses me. No-one seems to look far ahead anymore.
Modern vehicles have made us (generalising here) lazy drivers, we stop too late, accellerate too late -especially when passing- travel much too close to the vehicle in front of us and worst, are aggressive towards our fellow motorist.
THe ignorance of smaller vehicles when playing with Heavy Vehicles is alarming.
It is ALWAYS the driver -or mainly one of the drivers- fault.
The roads and conditions must be driven to, if they aren't then its not the fault of the road. Even though they are typically appalling.
IMHO there is nothing wrong with speed, its just applied at the wrong time in cases that cause a crash.
Roll on automated drivers Mr Tesla, we have forgotten how anyway
Can posters please elaborate on why this particular highway is so dangerous? Looking at the map, it certainly doesn't appear to present any problems. What really is the problem?
-- Edited by Lily2018 on Wednesday 25th of September 2019 07:41:48 PM
Hi Anne,
It is not the actual road IMO as I have no problem with it, see my comment above. It is the driver and speed. Cut that dangerous 110kmh down to 100kmh and a max of 90kmh for caravans. I could go as far as saying trucks as well but I would need a very big rock to hide behind so I won't say that.
Keep Safe on the roads and out there.
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TUG.......2014 Holden LT Colorado Twin Cab Ute with Canopy
DEN....... 2014 "Chief" Arrow CV (with some changes)
Lot of speculation about the Bruce Highway being the worst, just keep this in mind, an article recently published that stated that Qld has the highest number of caravan registrations in Australia, add the northern migration in winter and it maybe just that the percentages swing that way.
After reading about the latest accident re caravans on the article on the forum, I was wondering what road would have the history of having the most van ( RV ) accidents in Australia.
With out checking Stats. I would have the Bruce Highway in Queensland as the No.1 contender.
Not the best subject to be talking about, but if your contributions here has people re thinking their driving practices, then I guess that it is worth the air time.
Jay&Dee
I must say here, that in my original post listed above, I should have said that I have no issues with the Bruce. I have traveled it for years. What I did ask was
"What road would have the history of having the most Van ( RV) accidents in Australia""
"With out checking Stats. I would have the Bruce Highway in Queensland as the No.1 contender.""
some great comments thus far, and if people take note of the main comments, it is Speed and lack of common sense.
Imo . Most accidents are caused by tired drivers . When was the last rest break etc . Also ? How much towing. Driving experience has some had ? Seen many drive interstate and cant back in van space ! Some drive like the van is not attached . Passing and Pulling in, changing lanes & direction Way too fast !! Long straight roads seem Just as dangerous as hills and windy roads ! Seems that says its drivers attention !! Your driving more so on roads with curves ! Going semi unconscious on straight ! Do we admit it tho ?! NO never ! Lol
-- Edited by Aus-Kiwi on Thursday 26th of September 2019 02:43:22 PM
Anyone who thinks the Bruce is a bad road needs to travel a few of the so-called highways west of the divide in any eastern state esp. NSW or a few parts of Tassie. Forget the roadworks, while they contribute to fatigue and frustration, they pale into insignificance when compared to the lumps, bumps and potholes of an unmaintained road. The link from New England to Gwydir (Bald Nob Rd) is high on my list of roads to avoid and for the amount if traffic it carries, it needs real attention.
I also realise my comments may not be reflected in overall accident stats but really they are meaningless without context of traffic volumes. Qld's high accident intersections for instance, are also the highest traffic flow intersections and some are highly influenced by time of day.
Also to add to dabblers comments i would like to see some stats on caravan accidents as opposed to actual vans on the roads . personally dont think they are as many as some would have you believe. are there really so many accidents with vans or is it more to do with the fact when they do have an accident it tends to be spectacular and messy therefore newsworthy .
Having just driven the full length of the Bruce Highway with van in tow, I didn't think it was any where near as bad as what I had read. In fact mostly better than many of the inland QLD roads I have driven along during the last 6 months. More than 20,000 k's of them.
I would imagine that for most caravan accidents, rollovers etc, that if their speed at the time was somewhat less, those accidents may not have happened.
Having just driven the full length of the Bruce Highway with van in tow, I didn't think it was any where near as bad as what I had read. In fact mostly better than many of the inland QLD roads I have driven along during the last 6 months. More than 20,000 k's of them.
I would imagine that for most caravan accidents, rollovers etc, that if their speed at the time was somewhat less, those accidents may not have happened.
Joe
By extension then Joe, if they travel at walking pace everyone would be safe. Or dont hit the roads at all.
Speed is not the villian here, excessive speed for the situation possibly is
Having just driven the full length of the Bruce Highway with van in tow, I didn't think it was any where near as bad as what I had read. In fact mostly better than many of the inland QLD roads I have driven along during the last 6 months. More than 20,000 k's of them.
I would imagine that for most caravan accidents, rollovers etc, that if their speed at the time was somewhat less, those accidents may not have happened.
Joe
By extension then Joe, if they travel at walking pace everyone would be safe. Or dont hit the roads at all.
Speed is not the villian here, excessive speed for the situation possibly is
My Dad fell over quite a few times while walking, once fracturing his eye socket due to Parkinson's disease!
-- Edited by Whenarewethere on Friday 27th of September 2019 07:01:55 PM
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Any road, highway is dangerous where congestion occurs (us vanners & a lack of overtaking zones) or where drivers are unfamiliar with driving in new/remote areas, or where there are a large concentration of semi-trailers eg - the Newell Highway, or car drivers who MUST insist on overtaking every truck, caravan regardless of conditions & suddenly find there is something coming towards them.
The Bruce south of Mackay, is far better than the Mooney, the Gore - both narrow, with broken up edges due to poor design, building to a cost & the high number of trucks. Between Home Hill & Bowen, what is an overtaking zone?
If everyone drove to conditions, & weren't in a hurry, there would be fewer accidents, deaths.
Just my two bob's worth.
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