Accident going some where to happen

Greg 1 · Guru

RE: Accident going some where to happen

Aussie1 · Guru

Greg 1 wrote:
I too compete in motorsport and am a CAMS official. (Now Motorsport Australia.) If you have competed you will know that one of CAMS main objectives is road safety. The message is Do it on the track not on the road and I have found for the most part that most of my fellow competitors are very cognizant of that message and tend to be quite sedate on our roads. But there is the odd one.

Agree Greg 1, And Yes, sadly there will always be the "odd" one. Very odd indeed.

SouthernComfort · Guru

Greg 1 wrote:
I too compete in motorsport and am a CAMS official. (Now Motorsport Australia.) If you have competed you will know that one of CAMS main objectives is road safety. The message is Do it on the track not on the road and I have found for the most part that most of my fellow competitors are very cognizant of that message and tend to be quite sedate on our roads. But there is the odd one.

Agree totally. I used to hold a CAMS licence for many years and the rallying fraternity really understood what we're saying. But yes, the odd renegade did/does exist.

Greystone · Senior Member

What is the hurry for? Most of us are retired and don't have a deadline (pardon the pun) to meet. Take your time on the road and enjoy the journey. If you're struck behind a slower vehicle and you can't stand it, find a nice place to pull over and enjoy a short break. Have a cuppa and a bickie, it does wonders for your mental state of mind when you hit the road again.

dabbler · Guru

Phillipn At no point have I said I condone exceeding the speed limit. You DO condemn others and you DO happily pass judgement on others when you can't (or refuse to) understand their posts. My initial post has nothing to do with any agenda so give up on your attempt at character assassination. Read it again after cup of herbal tea. I described the road and mentioned people have different attitudes to speed. Nothing else.

Phillipn · Guru

dabbler wrote:
Phillipn At no point have I said I condone exceeding the speed limit. You DO condemn others and you DO happily pass judgement on others when you can't (or refuse to) understand their posts. My initial post has nothing to do with any agenda so give up on your attempt at character assassination. Read it again after cup of herbal tea. I described the road and mentioned people have different attitudes to speed. Nothing else.

Get over it! Have a rum instead of tea and you will feel better.

dabbler · Guru

Phillipn, clearly you can't handle someone who calls you out, can you ? No amount of deflection will help you, as will no amount of rum. I'm happy with everything I posted, I don't need a crutch.

BAZZA44 · Senior Member

I don't think anyone who posted on here would be as good as Peter Brock and even he came to grief, As for passing a road train at 130 kph, good luck, hope you do not take anyone else with you when you splatter all over the country side.

Barry

yobarr · Guru

Phillipn wrote:
Last Saturday 11:30 am 22/02/2020 I was traveling west along the Gatton bypass on the speed limit [100 kph]and I was overtaken by two idiots in 4x4`s towing caravans. I have it on dash cam and I estimate they were doing at least 110 - 115 kph.
If these people are on this forum, you are bloody idiots.

As someone who has a high-performance road car,I'm not going to comment on speeding,but this morning I was travelling,in that car,between Port Macquarie and Kew on a 4 lane highway which has a 110km/hr speed limit.As always,I was just "a bit" over that limit,but I was surprised to see a Ford Ranger catching up,and overtaking me.This car was towing an ancient Franklin caravan with the old "bicycle" tyres,and it simply flew past me.Being an inquisitive type,I decided to pursue it to get an idea of its speed.Long story short,I was travelling at 125km/hr (129km/hr indicated on speedo,but 125km/hr on GPS) and the Ranger and its caravan were still pulling away from me,rocking and rolling their way to who knows where? At this stage I backed off,as I had already spotted a Highway Patrol car in the area,but the Ranger kept going.Let's hope he safely reaches his destination,but I think that 125km/hr might be a tad too high a speed at which to tow an ancient Franklin caravan? And,before anyone starts,I'm not in the least bit interested in being lectured about my speed in my heavily modified road car,thanks all the same! Cheers

-- Edited by yobarr on Friday 28th of February 2020 02:33:17 PM

Greg 1 · Guru

One of the reasons WA brought in the 100kph blanket limit for all trailer towing vehicles and heavily police it is because of numnuts as you have just described yobarr. Whilst you still get the odd clown, most obey the limit and drive in some sort of sensible manner. As Peter Brock found out to his detriment, at speed, things can turn rapidly pear shape in extremely short order, and given the wrong set of circumstances, even the best drivers amongst us can get badly caught out.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

yobarr wrote:
Phillipn wrote:
Last Saturday 11:30 am 22/02/2020 I was traveling west along the Gatton bypass on the speed limit [100 kph]and I was overtaken by two idiots in 4x4`s towing caravans. I have it on dash cam and I estimate they were doing at least 110 - 115 kph.
If these people are on this forum, you are bloody idiots.
As someone who has a high-performance road car,I'm not going to comment on speeding,but this morning I was travelling,in that car,between Port Macquarie and Kew on a 4 lane highway which has a 110km/hr speed limit.As always,I was just "a bit" over that limit,but I was surprised to see a Ford Ranger catching up,and overtaking me.This car was towing an ancient Franklin caravan with the old "bicycle" tyres,and it simply flew past me.Being an inquisitive type,I decided to pursue it to get an idea of its speed.Long story short,I was travelling at 125km/hr (129km/hr indicated on speedo,but 125km/hr on GPS) and the Ranger and its caravan were still pulling away from me,rocking and rolling their way to who knows where? At this stage I backed off,as I had already spotted a Highway Patrol car in the area,but the Ranger kept going.Let's hope he safely reaches his destination,but I think that 125km/hr might be a tad too high a speed at which to tow an ancient Franklin caravan? And,before anyone starts,I'm not in the least bit interested in being lectured about my speed in my heavily modified road car,thanks all the same! Cheers

-- Edited by yobarr on Friday 28th of February 2020 02:33:17 PM

I don't usually comment on things that can get heated However in this case I make an exception.

OK, Yobarr I won't lecture and I don't lecture anyone however, you say you were doing "a bit" over the 110kmh speed limit. Sorry mate but "a bit" over is still over in any car, modified or not. THEN you say you were doing "125kmh" sorry mate, modified car or not, the speed limit was 110kmh. You took yourself to that idiot towing the van's level. You were no better than him sorry. Actually, I shouldn't say sorry. My son lost his young life because of an idiot doing just your speed, 125kmh, in a 110kmh zone, proven by police investigations. My son was only doing 100kmh, proven by witnesses and police report. He lost his life and I lost my son by an IDIOT.

IMO 110kmh is toO fast anyway, towing or not, modified car or not.

So, due to me not being a qualified or experienced 'lecturer' I have only just made a comment.

Keep Safe on the roads and out there.

-- Edited by Dougwe on Friday 28th of February 2020 06:52:00 PM

The Belmont Bear · Guru

As I posted on this forum a couple of months ago we were happily cruising along the M1 motorway just north of Raymond Terrace at 95KPH (110kph speed limit) with a 2.7T van in tow. We were relaxed and enjoying the trip , no bouncing, no sway, no wind, nice new road etc. At least we were until the shackles holding the vans rear axle failed on one side. Believe me trying to keep that load under control and bring it to a stop was a pretty frightening experience for the both of us. I really hate to think of what may have happened if we had been travelling at the speeds that some people on here have quoted especially if we had been on a 2 way shared highway. I have to agree with Doug travelling over the speed limit (especially when towing) is putting yourself and other road users at risk and I couldn't care less if have the driving skills of a Daniel Ricardo you are still obliged to follow the law..I'm currently working over here in South Africa where the compliance to road rules is pretty poor you really need to drive defensively because these guys believe that they can go as fast as they like and as a result they will probably lose more people during a holiday period than we will lose in a year.

Cheers

BB

Greg 1 · Guru

I agree with staying within the posted speed limits. However I do not agree that 110kph is too high. Leaving aside caravan towing, I cannot think of any major road that I have driven on in this country that a competent driver in a roadworthy car, sticking to the posted limit, could not negotiate and arrive safely at their destination. In fact there are some highways, particularly in the north west of WA that could handle a rise in the limit similar to the NT. Parts of the Eyre Hwy also. Becomes a bit of a different story when a heavy van is hooked on the back though. Speed as a factor in accidents is a lot less than we are led to believe. In any accident, the police have to add in a speed factor to their computer system. It will not allow them to ignore that even if the accident had absolutely nothing to do with speed. So the statistics show that speed is a factor in pretty much every reported accident and government's use this to justify their purchase of more revenue raising cameras. The true position of speed being the primary factor in accidents is in fact well down the list in about ninth or tenth place. Inattention is number one followed by incompetence, drugs, and drink driving. We need to change driver attitudes and improve training in this country if we are to reduce the road toll. We are too obsessed with speed that we cannot see the wood for the trees.

The Belmont Bear · Guru

Greg1, I dont disagree with you that if people stay within the posted speed limits then there shouldnt t be a problem. At the same time the maximum speed that people should travel is related to things like the weight that they are towing, weather conditions, the vehicles condition etc. and that is a variable. The issue is not really about when all things are going well but more about when the unexpected happens how much time you are going to have to deal with it.

cheers

BB

Greg 1 · Guru

Yes you are absolutely correct BB. Driving to the conditions and the rig or vehicle you have is equally important and this slots into the competency bit I mentioned. In my career I have had a bit to do with performance driving, having been a test driver in the automotive trade at one stage and also a driving instructor doing advanced driver training. I can honestly say that the competency of the average driver on Australian roads is poor to say the least. I am not talking anything to do with motorsport here just being at a level that understands the dangers, stays alert to the task at hand and has the skills needed to have some chance of getting out of trouble should the need arise. And that is our fault. We do not want to bite the bullet and pay the cost of proper training because people believe having a license is a right not a privilege and expect that mum and dad teach them to drive which is the very worst thing to do. Bad habits get taught. You cannot go and get a pilot's license by having your parents teach you. You must go through a proper training organization with a proper curriculum. You may say that's different, but it's not really. It's just learning to operate another piece of machinery with a different skill set. Any competent person can do it. I know. I have a private pilot's license too. Nothing special. Do the training, apply yourself and you can have one too. But the difference is the high level of professional attitude that is drummed into you from day one to obtain a pilot's license by the training organizations compared to what happens in ordinary driver training is what makes a world of difference.

Swerve · Veteran Member

The Gatton Bypass is a four lane highway, making it safe to pass virtually everywhere.

Greg 1 · Guru

The fact that it's a 4 lane rd still does not make it right to exceed the speed limit nor is it very smart to travel at a high speed with a large van in tow just because you can. I own a couple of cars that are very quick and have had the training and experience to drive them quickly but that does not mean that I should do so on a public road in excess of the posted limit or a sensible speed commensurate with what I am driving at the time and what the immediate conditions dictate.

mischief · Veteran Member

why is everybody so keen to go fast,,you will get there sometime...Maybe.

Klaus · Veteran Member

I have been a passed member of the St John Ambulance, SES and a still current volunteer fire fighters with over 33 years experience. I have attended more vehicle accidents over the last 48 years than I can ever recall. But every one of them was avoidable, too fast, not driving to conditions, not paying attention etc. Removing or helping remove busted up bodies from vehicles is no joke. An old saying goes: Better to get there a few minutes late than not at all. I am no angle and have done some dumb things when driving, but have thought back on those, and if its not safe or legal I don't care who honks me or tail gates, towing our 8.3 metre van I will do no more than 90km/h, I am going to enjoy the road trip the scenery and that beer at the end of the day, not spend it in a hospital bed or worse.