Towing speed - some like it hot!

yobarr · Guru

RE: Towing speed - some like it hot!

blissonwheels · Senior Member

Gooday,

I seem to be the odd one out tow at a Maximum of 85 Km per hour, 21 Foot 3 ton Caravan behind Jeep Commander Diesel, keep a keen eye on my mirrors and if I get a few behind me I pull over as soon as possible and let them all go. Over that the fuel economy goes out the window.

Have plenty sail past, but my thoughts are if you are in such a hurry take an Aeroplane.

oldbloke · Guru

Yep, speed costs. I'd have to check for nore exact info but that is pretty close.

I try to stay away from traffic and major highways. Keep to the left.

2trout · Senior Member

I am obviously in the minority here as I tow my van at 100kms on the highway. I am quite happy with you doing 80, 90, 95 or whatever so long as you are courteous to other road users and do not hold everyone up. If I am doing 100 in a 110 zone and notice a vehicle or two behind me, I find a spot to move over and let them safely pass. This is particularly the case on hilly, single lane roads where I may be only doing 60-80 kph. What I hate to see is a vehicle towing a van, horse float or whatever and 15 vehicles piled up behind them. I am sure that none of you would do this but some drivers do.

blaze · Guru

that dosnt worry me as much as a group of vans, nose to tail because we are travelling as a group
cheers
blaze

2trout · Senior Member

Yep, Blaze, we need to be mindful of other road users.

dogbox · Guru

blaze wrote:

that dosnt worry me as much as a group of vans, nose to tail because we are travelling as a group

cheers

blaze

then speed up at the overtaking lane

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

The faster you tow a pig trailer (caravan), the more unstable it gets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwlgZG55QWk

"It will never happen to me"
Cheers,
Peter

Onedodger · Guru

I tow on the sweet spot which is around 95k, when the roads are good and adjust the speed down as the roads degrade

Just a note the maximum legal speed for our rigs that are over 4500kg combined mass is 100kph in all states.

Whenarewethere · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
The faster you tow a pig trailer (caravan), the more unstable it gets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwlgZG55QWk
"It will never happen to me"
Cheers,
Peter

It goes to show don't place things (mass) at either end of the caravan.

yobarr · Guru

Onedodger wrote:
I tow on the sweet spot which is around 95k, when the roads are good and adjust the speed down as the roads degrade
Just a note the maximum legal speed for our rigs that are over 4500kg combined mass is 100kph in all states.

Not quite right,Roger. Cheer

dogbox · Guru

Onedodger wrote:

I tow on the sweet spot which is around 95k, when the roads are good and adjust the speed down as the roads degrade
Just a note the maximum legal speed for our rigs that are over 4500kg combined mass is 100kph in all states.

GVM > 4.5 ton = 100 kph speed limit not GCM

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

90 to 100 The Auto is stays in top of our GM powered motorhome. Unless head wind . Then we camp for the night . Hopefully wind is behind us ? As per Nullarbor !

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Like Mark stated above - the WHOLE issue for MOST road users is the TARGET speed (even the limit signs look like a target)! If the sign says the limit is 100, then the unwritten law is that YOU MUST DO 100kph (regardless of conditions, the capabilities of the car, driver & anything being towed).

I generally drive somewhere between 85 & 100kph. With the Patrol, I rarely touched 100kph generally peaking around 95. And yes, we've been passed by juggernauts (caravans that is, not trucks) travelling much faster. As written many times before in this forum, we had a close shave near Tarcutta on the Hume Highway with our previous camper. Then I blew a grease seal, a costly mistake in failing to check hub temperatures at every earlier stop. When something goes wrong, you don't get time to react at over 90kph. In the old days 60mph = 88' travelled every second.

Townsville suffered two major accidents yesterday - one North of the city (1 died) & one south (3 died) - none of these involved vehicles towing but one car side swiped another, another crossed on to the other side of the road. Technology is fast now, it appears some drivers expect they can drive the same way!

Saving 10 minutes in an hour is not worth risking lives of many people, adding trauma to emergency services people.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Driving for too long when tired causes more accidents than we realise !! In this case speed multiplies the injuries . Not necessary THE CAUSE ! Have breaks people . !!

dogbox · Guru

Magnarc wrote:

Laurie, have to take issue with you on your post. People should always drive at a speed that THEY feel safe at. Just because the limit is 100klms does not mean that you have to drive at that speed. Finding yourself behind a van going at 90klms is not the end of the world, how far down the road is the next passing lane??? So what's your hurry mate? what is so urgent that you need to knock 5 minutes off your arrival time? You drive at your speed and others drive at theirs. Live and let live Laurie.

as soon as they get to the overtaking lane they seem to find need to do the speed limit

to you it might be 5 to 10 minutes per hour but think of the truckie 5 minutes x 12 hour(or longer day) could make his day an hour longer or 100 klm shorter might make the difference between getting home legally or not

-- Edited by dogbox on Tuesday 15th of September 2020 01:04:59 PM

Stretch60 · Senior Member

I'm with Dhutime, the Amarok loves it at 100kph with best fuel consumption. Some old coots crawling along at 80kph is ok if they pull over to let others pass.

Greg 1 · Guru

It depends entirely on the road and weather conditions but if they are both good then the Ranger seems to like 100kph and our rig tows well at that pace. The only time I have ever exceeded that has been in a passing maneuver when the Muppet I was passing decided to put his foot down when I was right alongside and hung out to dry. Don't you just love em!

fwdoz · Guru

85 -95kmh, depending on the road & conditions. Always checking for what is behind, use my indicator to show vehicles when it is safe to pass. Use the UHF to tell truckies when I am going to ease off so they can pass.

On some roads if traffic behind builds up, I find a spot to pull over. Most are courteous & give a toot as a thankyou.

dogbox · Guru

fwdoz wrote:

85 -95kmh, depending on the road & conditions. Always checking for what is behind, use my indicator to show vehicles when it is safe to pass. Use the UHF to tell truckies when I am going to ease off so they can pass.

On some roads if traffic behind builds up, I find a spot to pull over. Most are courteous & give a toot as a thankyou.

a flash left or right was the way it was done before CB radios an everyone new what you meant, most people these day only get confused if you use your indicators even when turning .

yobarr · Guru

dogbox wrote:
fwdoz wrote:
85 -95kmh, depending on the road & conditions. Always checking for what is behind, use my indicator to show vehicles when it is safe to pass. Use the UHF to tell truckies when I am going to ease off so they can pass.

On some roads if traffic behind builds up, I find a spot to pull over. Most are courteous & give a toot as a thankyou.
a flash left or right was the way it was done before CB radios an everyone new what you meant, most people these day only get confused if you use your indicators, even when turning .

Ain't that the truth! For some drivers,having the left (or right) indicator flashing means little more than that the left (or right) indicator is flashing. And several times I have had to take evasive action when the car ahead turned in the opposite direction to that being indicated.As Bob (fwdoz) suggests,using the UHF to let truckies know you are about to ease off so that they can pass is a good idea,but please DO NOT 'ease off' until the truckie actually is in a position where he can safely pull out to overtake,because if he also has to 'ease off' until a gap develops in traffic,the truck will lose momentum,and the opportunity to overtake will be lost.Trucks have a lot lower power-to-weight ratio than do cars,so they need a lot more time and distance to accelerate to complete an overtaking manoeuvre.The pet hate of many truckies is Ma and Pa Kettle tootling along in their car and van at 70km/hr,with a line of traffic behind them,until an overtaking lane appears,when it's "pedal to the metal",and they're off.....until the overtaking lane ends,and they're back to 70km/hr. Cheers.

Mike Harding · Guru

I give a few flashes of the left indicator for cars following as a signal I think it's safe to overtake - this is a Europe wide unofficial practice.

For trucks following I call them on UHF CB40 and say "Truck following Snowy River caravan you overtake when you're ready and I'll slow down for you". When they go I immediately take my foot off the throttle and they're usually past me in a jiff I then flash them back in with my headlights.

One thing I wish people would do is to flash their headlights when overtaking another vehicle. When driving a truck, caravan and the like much of one's attention is often focused on all sorts of things in addition to the mirrors and it's easy to miss for a few seconds that a vehicle has pulled out from behind you to overtake. If that vehicle flashes his headlights as soon as he pulls out our peripheral vision will immediately detect it. Again, common practice in Europe.