Towing speed limits for caravans

Onedodger · Guru

Towing speed limits for caravans

bobsa · Senior Member

Link does not work come up with " 403 forbidden "
Bob

rgren2 · Guru

Not the original link, this does other states too.

www.lewisrv.com.au/blog/caravan-towing-speed-limits-australia/

Bobdown · Guru

Always been a 100kph towing anything in WA.

Cheers Bob

bobsa · Senior Member

rgren2 wrote:
Not the original link, this does other states too.

www.lewisrv.com.au/blog/caravan-towing-speed-limits-australia/

Cheers for that, I do think the Vic one need a bit of attention to detail

but no set speed limit I do love it mmmmmm

Towing speed limit in Victoria (VIC)

There is no set speed limit for towing a caravan in Victoria as drivers are advised to drive to conditions. This means that drivers towing a trailer or caravan need to practise discernment based on prevailing road and environmental conditions.

Aussie1 · Guru

Means nothing to me as I have a personal max of 90 kph and that's only when conditions or signage allow. Mostly drive at about 75 to 80. The only other road users out there that are more important than me are transport operators, Police and emergency personal. I always drive to accommodate their needs by making every effort to give them the chance to pass me. Never been an issue.

Gundog · Guru

https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/roads-safety-and-rules/vehicle-safety-and-compliance/towing-a-caravan

try this one

Jaahn · Guru

Gundog wrote:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/roads-safety-and-rules/vehicle-safety-and-compliance/towing-a-caravan

86GTS · Guru

Aussie1 wrote:
Means nothing to me as I have a personal max of 90 kph and that's only when conditions or signage allow. Mostly drive at about 75 to 80. The only other road users out there that are more important than me are transport operators, Police and emergency personal. I always drive to accommodate their needs by making every effort to give them the chance to pass me. Never been an issue.

On major highways 90kph gets us there safely without being a pest to others. On bitumen backroads with hardly any traffic we sit on 80kph & enjoy the scenery. Get good fuel economy too. smile

deverall11 · Guru

Aussie1 wrote:
Means nothing to me as I have a personal max of 90 kph and that's only when conditions or signage allow. Mostly drive at about 75 to 80. The only other road users out there that are more important than me are transport operators, Police and emergency personal. I always drive to accommodate their needs by making every effort to give them the chance to pass me. Never been an issue.

True 90 -95 kph as per GPS or digital speedo will give you the best compromise between fuel consumption and forward progress.

If you need to go faster, unhitch the van or whatever you are towing. This not for you.

If travelling at lower speeds, please keep an eye on the trucks behind you and talk to them on them on the CB

to organise best place for them to overtake.

Remember they are working, you are on holidays. Give them priority.

montie · Guru

I think 100 kph is the absolute maximum any caravan combination should travel at.
90 kph is much more appropriate imo.

yobarr · Guru

montie wrote:
I think 100 kph is the absolute maximum any caravan combination should travel at.
90 kph is much more appropriate imo.

Have to agree there Montie, but some of the clowns I see towing caravans when I'm driving the Roadtrain would be unsafe at 50kph. White knuckled, gripping the steering wheel at at 10 to 2 position, head craned forward, earnestly peering straight ahead, with absolutely no idea what's behind or alongside them, and the van swinging around merrily behind! Since most caravanners are on holiday surely it makes sense to drive at a speed that allows you to have a bit of a look around? But talk to them in the van park and they'll tell you they've "Done a million miles Mate, no worries. Just gotta drive to the conditions Mate". Yeah, right. Cheers

Ivan 01 · Guru

montie wrote:
I think 100 kph is the absolute maximum any caravan combination should travel at.
90 kph is much more appropriate imo.

+ 1

kgarnett · Senior Member

deverall11 wrote:
Remember they are working, you are on holidays. Give them priority.

Working or not no-one has priority on the roads.

It is however courteous to not impede other travellers when reasonable to do so.

Derek Barnes · Senior Member

We usually travelled at 103km/h in our recent 6 week trip up through central Australia. we found that this speed was very stable with our combination of about 3500 kg for car (Y 62 Patrol) including ball mass and about 1600 kg caravan. I dont see why 80 km/h is so safe and 100 is so dangerous. I agree that fuel economy is much better at 80 though.

erad · Guru

There has been a lot of talk about not blocking traffic, in particular trucks when you are towing a caravan. I thoroughly agree, but point out that it is not only trucks which should not be impeded. It is important NOT to hold up any traffic. Truck drivers are working and certainly they should not be impeded, but more importantly, Mr Joe Average gets stuck behind you and gets impatient. He pulls out to pass you in some ridiculous situation, and gets involved in a head on with some poor guy coming the other way. Chances are that YOU too will be involved in that head on as well. At least professional truck drivers mostly will not overtake recklessly - they probably don't have the power to do so safely anyway. I monitor my mirrors constantly and whenever it is safe to do so, I pull over to let the truckies and Mr Joe Average pass me. At least then Mr Joe will be less likely to involve me as part of his crashes.

Same thing applies when I see an oncoming train of cars stuck behind a slow vehicle, particularly a large one eg a caravan. I was taught years ago in such situations to expect some clown to do the wrong thing and pull out to overtake. I always look for an escape route in such situations. Right now, it is happening even with cars. School holidays mean lots of learner drivers getting up their hours behind the wheel. They are limited by law to 90 km/h, so they create quite a significant mobile road block. Expect the unexpected and hopefully they won't hit you.

gold dandelion · Senior Member

What annoys me is a group of say 4 vans travelling together up each others bum, not leaving any passing room. I also thought a 10 to 2 would have nearly been a standard position

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

X2 on gold dandelion's post. Even two caravans too close together is a bad, inconsiderate driving practise. I would suggest that every vehicle that tows a caravan should have a UHF CB radio (even a small hand held one) for close communication, safety.

Clarky 1 · Senior Member

Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
X2 on gold dandelion's post. Even two caravans too close together is a bad, inconsiderate driving practise. I would suggest that every vehicle that tows a caravan should have a UHF CB radio (even a small hand held one) for close communication, safety.

One of my pet aversions as a truck driver.

Both that and them speeding up when they hit the three lane.

Most of them should never be in charge of anything larger than a shopping trolley.

86GTS · Guru

We've had one hard & fast rule since retiring 12 years ago:
STAY OFF THE ROADS AT CHRISTMAS & EASTER.
Too many city slickers on country roads that wouldn't have a clue, including what double we white lines mean.
They all sit up the clacker of the vehicle in front & make it bl**dy hard for everyone including truckies.

Ivan 01 · Guru

When I was towing my van it was inevitable that you would catch up to a slower moving van. In most cases I was happy at 90 or maybe a couple faster if safe.

Then it wasnt long before another van caught up and so on and so on until we had ourselves a convoy, just like the song. biggrin

At times I would just drop out at the next wayside stop and have a walk around and let that group go.

Quite often when you caught up again it would be in a town or another parking bay and low and behold they would all be stopped together. cry

It must be an insecurity thing where they have got to congregate in herd fashion for fear of an attack by wild or deranged murderers or something similar.

I have observed the same thing to happen when you are camped. There might be 50 acres around your spot but where do they camp.? Right on top of you.

-- Edited by Ivan 01 on Tuesday 19th of July 2022 12:27:46 PM

Mike Harding · Guru

In the UK the maximum speed for towing a caravan is 60mph (97kph) on a dual carriageway or 50mph (80kph) on a road with only one lane in either direction. Those limits seem quite sensible to me.

86GTS · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
In the UK the maximum speed for towing a caravan is 60mph (97kph) on a dual carriageway or 50mph (80kph) on a road with only one lane in either direction. Those limits seem quite sensible to me.

Last time we were in the UK we were continually being overtaken by cars towing lightweight caravans while we were driving on motorways in our Vauxhall hire car at 75 mph. BMW'S, AUDI'S & PORSCHES blowing our doors off, must have been doing the ton!

Mike Harding · Guru

86GTS wrote:
Last time we were in the UK we were continually being overtaken by cars towing lightweight caravans while we were driving on motorways in our Vauxhall hire car at 75 mph. BMW'S, AUDI'S & PORSCHES blowing our doors off, must have been doing the ton!

Perhaps they don't have such an unhealthy obsession with the minutiae of rules and regulations as does Australia....

86GTS · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
86GTS wrote:
Last time we were in the UK we were continually being overtaken by cars towing lightweight caravans while we were driving on motorways in our Vauxhall hire car at 75 mph. BMW'S, AUDI'S & PORSCHES blowing our doors off, must have been doing the ton!
Perhaps they don't have such an unhealthy obsession with the minutiae of rules and regulations as does Australia....

Probably not. What worried us the most was that the lightweight caravans were swaying around like suitcases held by their handle. An eye opening experience in the extreme.

After a few weeks were glad to hand our hire car back to the depot.

Mike Harding · Guru

86GTS wrote:
What worried us the most was that the lightweight caravans were swaying around like suitcases held by their handle. An eye opening experience in the extreme.
After a few weeks were glad to hand our hire car back to the depot.

Well, if one were to judge by your prophecies one would expect every street to be littered with the wrecks of caravan accidents yet, strangely, that does not seem to be the case, just good luck perhaps... do you think?

86GTS · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
86GTS wrote:
What worried us the most was that the lightweight caravans were swaying around like suitcases held by their handle. An eye opening experience in the extreme.
After a few weeks were glad to hand our hire car back to the depot.
Well, if one were to judge by your prophecies one would expect every street to be littered with the wrecks of caravan accidents yet, strangely, that does not seem to be the case, just good luck perhaps... do you think?

No idea how many accidents actually happen. I'd say when they do occur they would be rather spectacular. I noticed that most caravans over there have anti-sway mechanisms on the drawbar, similar to the ALKO units available in Australia. Judging by the amount of swaying caravans around the mechanism didn't seem all that effective. Do you have any figures/data regarding caravan accidents in the UK?

yobarr · Guru

86GTS wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:
86GTS wrote:
What worried us the most was that the lightweight caravans were swaying around like suitcases held by their handle. An eye opening experience in the extreme.
After a few weeks were glad to hand our hire car back to the depot.
Well, if one were to judge by your prophecies one would expect every street to be littered with the wrecks of caravan accidents yet, strangely, that does not seem to be the case, just good luck perhaps... do you think?
No idea how many accidents actually happen. I'd say when they do occur they would be rather spectacular. I noticed that most caravans over there have anti-sway mechanisms on the drawbar, similar to the ALKO units available in Australia. Judging by the amount of swaying caravans around the mechanism didn't seem all that effective. Do you have any figures/data regarding caravan accidents in the UK?

Quick chat with Mr Google revealed these figures.

Ivan 01 · Guru

That is interesting that the UK have licences for towing caravans and trailers. ( from yobarrs screen shot )

yobarr · Guru

Ivan 01 wrote:
That is interesting that the UK have licences for towing caravans and trailers. ( from yobarrs screen shot )

Great observation Ivan, and it seems that not only do the Poms sensibly have towing licences, but there are different classes too! The sooner such a system is introduced here in Australia the safer we all will be, as some of the caravanners I see when working, or when on my travels, are so far out of their depth when towing that they're an accident looking for a place to happen. How it is perfectly legal for Corolla drivers Ma and Pa Kettle to trade the Corolla on a twin-cab ute or some such, hook up the 3500kg ATM van, overload the whole lot to tge point of stupidity and blissfully set out to "Do the lap" is beyond me, and an absolutely ridiculous situation.These clowns are let loose in an articulated vehicle weighing more than 6000kg but have never driven anything bigger than a Corolla. Somerhing must be done to rectify this. Cheers.