Author Topic: Failed bungy strap cost two lives (Read 7560 times)

Wortho · « **on:** March 08, 2012, 01:23:56 PM »

Saw this on the news last night and they showed the broken bungy strap that had been used to hold a 2 section ladder to the roof of a van!!

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/stray-ladder-sparks-fatal-crash-on-m5-20120307-1uko2.html

I would not trust a bungy to hold anything substantial to the roof of a vehicle especially with the quality of some of the ones coming out of China these days, once they have been in the sun a while the rubber just goes powdery inside. Maybe they should be covered by Australian standards.

MarkGU · « **Reply #1 on:** March 08, 2012, 01:36:51 PM »

Quote from: Wortho on March 08, 2012, 01:23:56 PM

Saw this on the news last night and they showed the broken bungy strap that had been used to hold a 2 section ladder to the roof of a van!!

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/stray-ladder-sparks-fatal-crash-on-m5-20120307-1uko2.html

I would not trust a bungy to hold anything substantial to the roof of a vehicle especially with the quality of some of the ones coming out of China these days, once they have been in the sun a while the rubber just goes powdery inside. Maybe they should be covered by Australian standards.

"Maybe they should be covered by Australian standards."
in the transport industry we are governed by Load Restraint Laws that specify what & how we secure loads. bring it on across ALL vehicles i say. day ofter day i see Utes and other vehicles going down the highway with items held on with totally impractical restraints such as gaffer tape and the like.

Bird · « **Reply #2 on:** March 08, 2012, 01:41:58 PM »

Quote from: Wortho on March 08, 2012, 01:23:56 PM

Saw this on the news last night and they showed the broken bungy strap that had been used to hold a 2 section ladder to the roof of a van!!

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/stray-ladder-sparks-fatal-crash-on-m5-20120307-1uko2.html

I would not trust a bungy to hold anything substantial to the roof of a vehicle especially with the quality of some of the ones coming out of China these days, once they have been in the sun a while the rubber just goes powdery inside. Maybe they should be covered by Australian standards.

see it every day on east link, there was a trailer with ladders stacked 4 high on one side of the trailer recently I couldnt wait to get past it, they were rocking quite badly and it wasnt smallest to biggest or big to small, they were mixed and waitin to come off

LJs GU · « **Reply #3 on:** March 08, 2012, 01:43:47 PM »

At least they used something...

A mate who's a landscaper got pulled over once and was asked the question " so what's holding your load down"

Apparently "ummmmmm, gravity?" wasn't good enough!! (Apparently wasn't funny as well)

LJ

MarkGU · « **Reply #4 on:** March 08, 2012, 01:46:39 PM »

Quote from: LJs GQ on March 08, 2012, 01:43:47 PM

At least they used something...

A mate who's a landscaper got pulled over once and was asked the question " so what's holding your load down"

Apparently "ummmmmm, gravity?" wasn't good enough!! (Apparently wasn't funny as well)

LJ

he was lucky to get away with it.....we cop an $80 fine for having a twist in our straps and that's each

baldheadedgit · « **Reply #5 on:** March 08, 2012, 02:03:10 PM »

got done the other week,,, mesh not straped , 4 points of contact. Had it tied down with tie wire as we do,, not going to go anywhere. But not good enough to the RMS.? (RTA) they want straps, wich we have but rarely use.
Always getting pulled up by them for one thing or another, but you never see the ute's, trailers or cars being pulled up by anyone to check there loads..
Did drive along the M5 in the afternoon, seen the van that the ladder came of, but had no idea it was involved in the mess till later that day.
something so simple can have such a big impact on life.

BHG

Mace · « **Reply #6 on:** March 08, 2012, 02:21:08 PM »

Quote from: baldheadedgit on March 08, 2012, 02:03:10 PM

something so simple can have such a big impact on life.

BHG

Youre not wrong! Late last year near Geelong.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/police-hunt-for-ute-driver-after-fatal-flowerpot-crash-20111223-1p7te.html

pacs · « **Reply #7 on:** March 08, 2012, 03:57:03 PM »

had a near miss on the highway down Melb just before christmas 2years back had to go rally mode to avoid a christmas tree I was just lucky I had room to move in the lanes at the time.. and just last night I saw a couple moving a queen size mattress on the roof of a rav4 and one person was holding it in place through the sun roof...

gqcamper · « **Reply #8 on:** March 08, 2012, 04:14:56 PM »

unfortunately i see this stuff all the time thankfully not with the same outcome.
I work on the M7 in sydney and we are forever picking up crap that falls off vehicles, everything from hard hats to 10,000lt water tanks.

LJs GU · « **Reply #9 on:** March 08, 2012, 07:09:13 PM »

Quote from: gqcamper on March 08, 2012, 04:14:56 PM

unfortunately i see this stuff all the time thankfully not with the same outcome.
I work on the M7 in sydney and we are forever picking up crap that falls off vehicles, everything from hard hats to 10,000lt water tanks.

Does that stuff end up at the tip or into the 'office pool' for the Xmas raffle??
LJ

ozbogwam · « **Reply #10 on:** March 08, 2012, 07:09:37 PM »

Many years ago driving through Ringwood I was following a truck that had what I thought were doors in the back. Suddenly one flew off straight at me and the Zuk. Braced myself for the worse, bang hit it head on. Next thing it looked like a snow storm, turned out it was polystyrene. Gave the driver a mouthful at the next lights, he was very sorry and strapped them down.

baldheadedgit · « **Reply #11 on:** March 08, 2012, 07:32:42 PM »

Quote from: gqcamper on March 08, 2012, 04:14:56 PM

unfortunately i see this stuff all the time thankfully not with the same outcome.
I work on the M7 in sydney and we are forever picking up crap that falls off vehicles, everything from hard hats to 10,000lt water tanks.

Hey. if ya come across a pair of gum boots size 9, give me a yell will ya,,,, lost mine somewhere....

TroyE · « **Reply #12 on:** March 08, 2012, 09:11:24 PM »

unfortunately morons are not restricted to down south

see the same things up here in fnq all the time just hasn't made the national news yet. I get as far away from and suspect loads I see asap ( knowing my luck it'll be me that gets cleaned up)

troy

gqcamper · « **Reply #13 on:** March 09, 2012, 06:46:43 AM »

unfortunately LJ most of it's trashed after falling off at 100ks so off to the tip it goes.

Beachman · « **Reply #14 on:** March 09, 2012, 12:28:09 PM »

I use to have a really old and wooden extension ladder which was passed down from my Father. This was as long as my 4WD and would have weighed 30-40kg. So instead of getting a hernia trying to put it up I ended up selling it.

Whenever moving it, I use to tie it to the roof rack, then tie the front to the bull bar and the back to the tow bar. Some mates said it was overkill, but preferred that that actually killing someone as this would have been a deadly missile if I had a smash.

Blinky Bill · « **Reply #15 on:** March 09, 2012, 04:57:18 PM »

Quote from: Beachman on March 09, 2012, 12:28:09 PM

I use to have a really old and wooden extension ladder which was passed down from my Father. This was as long as my 4WD and would have weighed 30-40kg. So instead of getting a hernia trying to put it up I ended up selling it.

Whenever moving it, I use to tie it to the roof rack, then tie the front to the bull bar and the back to the toe bar. Some mates said it was overkill, but preferred that that actually killing someone as this would have been a deadly missile if I had a smash.

Hats off to you. I'm with you all the way mate.

As far as I'm concerned it's better to tie things down carefully & thoroughly than adopt the 'she'll be right mate' approach to transport safety. Especially when it's other people's lives that sheer negligence or even just laziness is endangering.

Cheerio - Wayne

Patr80l · « **Reply #16 on:** March 09, 2012, 10:18:55 PM »

Making the roads "safer"..... I was driving down Eastlink a couple of weeks ago when I saw a safe the size of a large fridge lying on its side in the left hand lane. I thought it was a cardboard box until I saw the large hinges and the big combination dial on the door. Lucky it was peak hour and the traffic was crawling. Probably weighed half a tonne.

singo-26 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 10, 2012, 10:36:43 PM »

I was lucky enough to get caught up in the resulting mess on Wed arvo and the flooding on Thus morning, Here I was chaining down my load when occy straps would have done the job.

speewa158 · « **Reply #18 on:** March 11, 2012, 04:00:56 AM »

Singo what is the best a chain or occy . What l want to know really is how many occys are needed to replace 1 chain

TroyE · « **Reply #19 on:** March 12, 2012, 08:55:51 PM »

2 should do it speewa

troy

singo-26 · « **Reply #20 on:** March 12, 2012, 09:03:08 PM »

Quote from: speewa158 on March 11, 2012, 04:00:56 AM

Singo what is the best a chain or occy . What l want to know really is how many occys are needed to replace 1 chain

3 tonne tractor on the truck, just to be on the safe side (not to mention balance) I reckon 4. One each corner Yeah, She'll be right

MarkGU · « **Reply #21 on:** March 12, 2012, 09:06:14 PM »

Quote from: singo-26 on March 12, 2012, 09:03:08 PM

3 tonne tractor on the truck, just to be on the safe side (not to mention balance) I reckon 4.

or as you often see......blue & yellow Ex Telstra rope

singo-26 · « **Reply #22 on:** March 12, 2012, 09:10:21 PM »

Quote from: navara04 on March 12, 2012, 09:06:14 PM

or as you often see......blue & yellow Ex Telstra rope

Yeah but then you need to tie knots.
I'm still picturing you Nav copping a bungy strap end on your hand and saying "ouch, you son of a "

jr · « **Reply #23 on:** March 13, 2012, 08:01:31 AM »

Pretty sure there are strict rules regarding tie down of loads, no one enforces it.

singo-26 · « **Reply #24 on:** March 13, 2012, 08:49:59 AM »

Quote from: jr on March 13, 2012, 08:01:31 AM

Pretty sure there are strict rules regarding tie down of loads, no one enforces it.

There are, in NSW anyway. The RTA has heavy vehicle inspectors (mermaids) on the road and in theory there is nothing stopping them from pulling over a car, Insecure load would be the charge, the charge also applies to grass clippings, dirt or sand blowing out of a trailer. It can however get a little frustrating to get pulled over by the RTA and get told in their opinion your load is not secure. Personally I've driven trucks for 7 years and I am yet to loose anything over the side.

News:

Author Topic: Failed bungy strap cost two lives (Read 7560 times)

pacs