Clowns Towing Vans

[D4D]

It is not rocket science

It obviously is for some people

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/p-plater-caught-speeding-drink-driving/story-e6frfku9-1226908306666

A P-PLATER'S car has been impounded after he was caught allegedly driving while drunk at more than 170km/h on a Victorian freeway. 

[JD-120]

Be careful of this happening

hows does something like this happen? Is this sort of stuff typically due to a blow out?

[Pirate_Pete]

hows does something like this happen? Is this sort of stuff typically due to a blow out?

It's the bow wave of the truck.

Car pushes though the bow wave it turns out to the right due to the wind, then turns back to the left as the car pushes through.

Just as this happens the wind then pushes the the van to the right & then back to the left as it brakes out the other side of the bow wave.

This starts the whole rig swaying from side to side & you end up in a big tank slap & it all ends pear shaped.

[Cruiser 105Tvan]

And if he'd stayed in behind the truck.
It's been proven, he'd save fuel.
To pass a truck  like that, It has to be done at low speeds.
If your not at low speeds, you have to get out away from the truck.
To minimise the effect as much as possible.

Especially if your towing a 20-30 ft. caravan with a matchbox toy.

[ozstickman]

I'm not sure how many of your are truck drivers with real road train experience but your dog trailer will always get a wobble up at some time, passing another truck, undulating road, dropping a side along the shoulder etc etc.

You use the same principle with towing a van as a road train.  If that dog trailer gets the wobbles because it hits a good bit of undulation or a side runs of the edge of the black stuff into the dirt(I'm talking about whoop whoop roads that don't have fog lines because they are too skinny) you keep the power on to pul that trailer straight, you don't touch the brakes or lift your foot of the pedal. This pulls the dog trailer straight.

Ok some one will disagree with me but this is how it is done.  Turd herders(cattle trucks) have this happen to them all the time because the cattle move, they avoid running at full speed because they want a little more on the peddle to pull out of cruddy situations.

I'm not talking about blokes that run the coast, Hume or Newell Hwys, that have good roads, fog lines and shoulders.  Hey even the Bruce Hwy is great prepared to the tracks that along road trains west of the ranges.

I still and will always stand behind that I think anyone towing anything bigger than a large box trailer(or camper trailer trailer size) should have to pass a separate license.


Sticko

PS Goto http://m.youtube.com/user/ozstickman not great examples of roads I am talking about, as I had to concentrate on the cruddy stuff and didn't film it.

[Beachman]

While we all enjoying giving the Grey Nomads a hard time about their driving style, you have to keep in mind with our love of the outdoors, that in years to come there is going to be a good chance we will be in there shoes and people will be complaining about us as you have to remember as we all age, our driving style changes.

Yes we all know some people can’t tow trailers, but are they any worse than the young hoons in there doof doof cars, the amount of people driving under the influence of drugs, professional drivers who haven’t taken a break and are driving tired  or us over confident males?

I’m sure we all think we have exceptional driving skills, but I’m sure at some stage over the past couple of months other drivers would disagree with our perceived exceptional driving skills!!

Okay, flam suit on.

[champin]

You're dead right sticko., I used to run triples around Kalgoolie with Doug Goulds mob and some times it only took a small pot hole to send the third trailer over the other side of the road. I used to enjoy watching people come up behind me and sit there for quite a while working up the nerve to pass. Just as they did I'd hit a bump and the whole lot wood get the jim jams up.
  What I have learnt after too many kms to think about is that bad drivers come in all shapes and sizes. It is easy to single out one particular genre.

I like to look at all angles in discussions like these, not necessarily because I disagree with the general consensus, but merely to raise other points of view to see opinions or whether anyone has considered this.
So in light of that, has anyone thought about the reality of expecting a slow moving vehicle to continuously pull off to the side of a 1 lane each way road to let faster moving traffic by? There aren't many roads these days that arent busy all the time so is it fair for a vehicle that either doesnt have the power,  or a driver sticking to his/her skill limits, to be doing this? Consider the status of road shoulders in general. I am not saying that people shouldnt pull over but for some drivers this could be dangerous. Merging is not a driving skill that Aussies are adept at for the most part.
People should drive to 4 things in no particular order: road & weather conditions,  their own driving abilities, the limits of the vehicle they are driving taking due consideration of whether they are towing, and the quantity of traffic they are sharing the road with.
Its a lot to expect of most drivers to be on top of these things AND worry about pulling off the road every time they see a vehicle in their rear view mirror.

x 2

[komaterpillar]

I used to enjoy watching people come up behind me and sit there for quite a while working up the nerve to pass. Just as they did I'd hit a bump and the whole lot wood get the jim jams up.

Sounds like your a model citizen on the roads. I'd far rather sit behind a grey nomad on 85 than some spastic hitting potholes because they enjoy seeing what happens to people behind them 

[champin]

for you information komaterpiller, I am was not a "spastic hitting pot holes" for fun. The roads north of Kalgoolie were barely wide enough for two trucks to pass let alone try to dodge any undulation that would send the rear trailer off path.
 But thanks for your thoughts anyway.

[Snake]

Here's the video for the caravan rollover.

http://youtu.be/9SsSZVTanqQ
	Small | Large

[Brij]

Sounds like your a model citizen on the roads. I'd far rather sit behind a grey nomad on 85 than some spastic hitting potholes because they enjoy seeing what happens to people behind them 

I didn't think he was implying he was deliberately hitting potholes.

And the outback hasn't got the only ordinary roads.

Highway 1 in the middle of town where I work (only 2 hours from Melbourne) has a dip in the left of the left lane which will see the back (B double) trailer at anything more than 30km/h  leave black yaw marks on the tarmac as it Jim Jams (never heard of that. I like it ) about a foot either side of it's true line. Seems to be a regular occurance of people calling in complaining about these "faulty" trucks. They travel in the right lane through this spot when they can, much to the dismay of the general traveling public.

Even one of the main roads where I live (a regular heavy vehicle detour to Highway will see even little 25t 3 axle dogs  "jim jaming"  for kms at a time, from over the fog line to over the centre line at times (although the 2 lines are lucky to be 2.5m apart  ).

Peter

[Meken]

I'm not sure how many of your are truck drivers with real road train experience but your dog trailer will always get a wobble up at some time, passing another truck, undulating road, dropping a side along the shoulder etc etc.

You use the same principle with towing a van as a road train.  If that dog trailer gets the wobbles because it hits a good bit of undulation or a side runs of the edge of the black stuff into the dirt(I'm talking about whoop whoop roads that don't have fog lines because they are too skinny) you keep the power on to pul that trailer straight, you don't touch the brakes or lift your foot of the pedal. This pulls the dog trailer straight.

Ok some one will disagree with me but this is how it is done.  Turd herders(cattle trucks) have this happen to them all the time because the cattle move, they avoid running at full speed because they want a little more on the peddle to pull out of cruddy situations.

I'm not talking about blokes that run the coast, Hume or Newell Hwys, that have good roads, fog lines and shoulders.  Hey even the Bruce Hwy is great prepared to the tracks that along road trains west of the ranges.

I still and will always stand behind that I think anyone towing anything bigger than a large box trailer(or camper trailer trailer size) should have to pass a separate license.


Sticko

PS Goto http://m.youtube.com/user/ozstickman not great examples of roads I am talking about, as I had to concentrate on the cruddy stuff and didn't film it.

Or if towing a van a gentle bit of manual trailer brake (same effect)


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[ozstickman]

Or if towing a van a gentle bit of manual trailer brake (same effect)


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That can work too. Doesn't work when you have more than one trailer but.


Sent from my Ring-a-ding-a-ling

[dazzler]

Here's the video for the caravan rollover.


http://youtu.be/9SsSZVTanqQ

Love how his brake lights  come on just before it goes crazy...


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[DropBearRacing]

Love how his brake lights  come on just before it goes crazy...


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Geez Zars, that would of put a stain in his jocks

[cruza driver]

Well as they say, "you learn something new everyday"

I didnt know thers were so many perfect drivers on here 

[nbd73]

Well as they say, "you learn something new everyday"

I didnt know thers were so many perfect drivers on here 

Here's a few regular acts that I reckon 75% of us are guilty of:
1. Tailgating
2. Fail to indicate
3. Run red light at intersection with interminably long wait between green lights.
4. Instead of joining a queue to turn you drive up the other lane almost to the turn point then stick indicator on and either just push in or stop (& thus block your own lane) and wait till someone lets you in.
5. Text/talk on mobile phone while driving (bucket loads of people still do this)
6. Park in handicap bay without being handicapped.
7. Pull out in front of moving traffic causing you to slow down despite NOONE being behind you.
etc etc

Now my point is (and I'm getting back to topic!) that the common thread to all of these acts is selfishness of the driver (ie you, me and everyone else): we all need to take a backward step at times and recognise that just because WE want to drive faster than the next person doesn't mean THEY have to do everything possible to please US.

We all have equal rights to use the road. Obviously a driver of a slow vehicle or one that will be towing should try to avoid being on the road at peak times, but if they want to go somewhere, and their vehicle, trailer set up etc is safe & legal, then they have a right to the road as much as anyone else and should not be forced into either middle of the night transit or a continuous stop/start journey just so everyone else can drive at their desired speed.

It comes down to being less selfish, more patient and changing priorities.  I always thought it was better to get where you are going SAFELY (ie alive and unscathed) rather than in record time. There will always be people who wish to drive faster than us.

2 lane roads, yes by all means stick to the left always, 1 lane roads with wide or smoothly graded shoulders yes pull over OCCASIONALLY but not for EVERY vehicle, and where roads are worse bad luck to the rest of us we will just have to wait for a safe overtaking spot or lane. And if there are none and the vehicle in front is super slow then there's NOTHING we can do about it (except rant on myswag!)

[jwb]

Touche!

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[Malcolm Tugless]

What about clowns in 4 wheel drives and pickup trucks ... bit of a worry that.

[Mik01]

I like to look at all angles in discussions like these, not necessarily because I disagree with the general consensus, but merely to raise other points of view to see opinions or whether anyone has considered this.
So in light of that, has anyone thought about the reality of expecting a slow moving vehicle to continuously pull off to the side of a 1 lane each way road to let faster moving traffic by? There aren't many roads these days that arent busy all the time so is it fair for a vehicle that either doesnt have the power,  or a driver sticking to his/her skill limits, to be doing this? Consider the status of road shoulders in general. I am not saying that people shouldnt pull over but for some drivers this could be dangerous. Merging is not a driving skill that Aussies are adept at for the most part.
People should drive to 4 things in no particular order: road & weather conditions,  their own driving abilities, the limits of the vehicle they are driving taking due consideration of whether they are towing, and the quantity of traffic they are sharing the road with.
Its a lot to expect of most drivers to be on top of these things AND worry about pulling off the road every time they see a vehicle in their rear view mirror.

totally agree.

no way am I putting my wheels in the dirt just to let someone pass.
they may save a couple of minutes for their trip to wherever, but im expected to sacrifice safety of my family for their couple of minutes?

at the end of the day, all vehicles are slower than something else - try sitting on any highway anywhere with cruise on (not towing) and on the speed limit.  if you're not sitting in the far right, prepare to brake and adjust your speed constantly - and even if in the right and overtaking slower vehicles, there are always people in the far right who cant maintain adequate speed.

it may be selfish, but I will only allow faster vehicles to pass if my safety is not jeopardised in any way - that's my first responsibility.
if I drive consistently and within my capabilities, yet slower than the speed limit, surely this allows other road users to make their own decisions according to their level of capability and appetite for risk.

and no - im not a grey nomad!

[Jeepers Creepers]

What about clowns in 4 wheel drives and pickup trucks ... bit of a worry that.

McDonalds Franchise Owner's meeting by the looks of that.

[letsgoplaces]

Here's a few regular acts that I reckon 75% of us are guilty of:

6. Park in handicap bay without being handicapped.

That's one thing i have never done or ever will do
However, i have no respect for the 'pram' parks 
Or there are the wider parking bays in Burnside shopping centre for the people that can't drive/park a 4wd 

Cheers
John

[Foo]

A few years back, i was cruising down the Stuart Hwy not too far from Kulgera, traveling behind a triple. Being in a 60 series at the time and even the 12ht was no rocket , i was happy to drive behind him as i was going to stop at Kulgera anyway. He seemed to take offense with me sitting behind him, so he put his wheels in the dirt at the side of the road covering me in dust and gravel.
I passed and when he pulled into Kulgera a couple of minutes after me, i asked why didn't he want me behind him? 'Because having you sitting behind me put me off my book' WTF???
I made sure my food and fuel stop was quick enough to get on the highway before him

Speaking from my perspective on this, they normally site about 10' off the back of me where, I can't see them.  If you sit back about four or five car lengths, I can see you anytime I look in my mirror and that is best for all.  I don't need to be driving for you as well as I have enough on my plate, trying to control 65-105tn of truck and trailers. 

If you have a UHF, just call up and say I'm going to sit back behind you and is this distance good. 

Foo

[Foo]

Sounds like your a model citizen on the roads. I'd far rather sit behind a grey nomad on 85 than some spastic hitting potholes because they enjoy seeing what happens to people behind them 

You need to read that again Mate!  You obviously have no idea, of what B-doubles, normal  Road Trains and AB-triples do when they hit pot holes, undulations and move off the road. 

Foo

[Bird]

You need to read that again Mate!  You obviously have no idea, of what B-doubles, normal  Road Trains and AB-triples do when they hit pot holes, undulations and move off the road. 

Foo

Id like to see all drivers forced to get some form of permit/truck license and bike license the before they are allowed to get  car license.. that way they know how it all works.