Two terrifying accidents in the space of a few hours have once again rocked the caravanning community.
Incredibly, it is believed that no one was seriously injured in either of the spectacular crashes.
Early this morning, a car towing a caravan flipped on the busy M1 motorway between the Gold Coast and Brisbane. One person was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition. It is believed the man, whose age is not known, suffered seatbelt related injuries.
Police are now investigating the cause of the crash on the southbound lane at Stapylton. The incident caused major traffic delays.
Queensland Police Service spokesman said crews
A truck collided with a caravan in Victoria. PIC: Darren Howe/Bendigo Advertiser
stayed on-scene more than two hours after the accident.
In another dramatic incident in Raywood, Victoria, three people have walked away unharmed – except for shock – from a crash in which a caravan was wrapped around the front of a semi-trailer.
The Bendigo Advertiser reports that the driver of a Mitsubishi Pajero, which was towing a 20’ caravan, will be issued with a penalty notice for failing to give way.
Police said the Mitsubishi driver, who was from interstate, had been travelling east along Bridgewater-Raywood Road when he encountered a give way sign.
Leading Senior Constable Marcus Uren told the Advertiser that the driver slowed the vehicle, but did not see a large semi-trailer heading north along Pyramid-Yarraberb Road.
The Mitsubushi attempted to travel through the intersection, causing the semi-trailer to take evasive action.
Leading Senior Constable Uren said the semi-trailer missed the Mitsubishi, which contained two people, but hit the caravan.
“The impact hit the towball system,” he said. “It could have been a catastrophe.”
The Bendigo Advertiser reports the towball system ripped from the vehicle and the caravan was pushed into a nearby paddock.
Ok, let’s face it traffic accidents is part of travelling on our highways and roads. Plus the caravan industry is growing at an enormous rate. More van traffic the like hood of more accidents.
Great no one was badly hurt,.
The M1 section where the first accident occurred has a speed limit of 110 kph.
I am just saying.. if one travels at 110 kph, then… well you can fill in the rest.
My speed limit is a max. of 90 kph and that is rarely.
However it is great that the forum publish this info, as it hopefully will make us aware of the issues mentioned.
Johnnie Rodgers
JR, I just wonder about your opening sentence ….” traffic accidents is part of travelling on our highways” …. surely you don’t mean it the way it sounds ….. a tad blaze …. When one is travelling on our roads and highways it is encumbent upon us to use ye olde Common Sense, drive to tge conditions, and be constantly aware with full concentration on the job at hand.
Yep have to say it …… licensing. Sorry but it’s getting to be needed
Disagree with that, what’s needed is a national speed limit when towing of 90 klms per hr. Force them to slow down.
Great idea and I agree wholeheartedly
Well make the trucks do 90 as well. it happens all the time, me doing 95 and a double B passes at 115. It has to stop
It’s not just speed , it’s stupidity combined with NO knowledge of loading the van and car
I agree with you Rob, we were travelling along Brisbane Valley Way a few days ago at just over 100k. (Not towing) Overtaken by a caravan which we followed to the D Agullar Highway, They turned right through a stop sign without stopping.
Here,here !!!
Agree entirely, half of them have no idea how to tow and most load incorrectly. Also a decent hitch system should be mandatory.
According to the report above no cause has yet been established for the QLD accident, so don’t quite understand how “licensing” would assist prevent “what “. In the other accident in VIC, says van driver slowed at give way but did not see the truck. Basic driving alertness applicable to all vehicle classes would have prevented, but don’t understand how “licensing” would have helped.
We travel at around 90 kms, dual lanes so not holding any one up. Then you get other vans overtaking you at high speed, it’s a wonder this sort of thing happens. I think they forget the have a 3 ton van on the back.
If you slowed further when someone wants to overtake they wouldn’t have to speed up to pass
Joan I totally agree. We would have the honour of only passing about 6 vans during our last 2 trips. Probably to be truthful about 3 of them had pull over for what ever reason. Everyone is in a hurry. 90klms will see you cover a lot of road in an hour.
OK, I pull over and let the traffic pass when I see a queue and I give truckies the right of way.
I guess that I am jut a very careful driver.
Johnnie rodgers
One never fully, knows of the circumstances which really caused this. As Joan suggests, take it slow, and yes, as suggested by other’s, more regulation may be required.
Meantime from my experience, we are a responsible bunch who take travel by road seriously.
H.
Add the car and its 5 ton plus.
Ours is about 5.2 ton all up
Agree with Johnnie Rodgers. 100%
License definitely
Even the expert cannot come up with a suitable formulae because it would involve using identical number plates on the van and the tug as there are so many varablel in caravans trucks are by regulation the same it B double.,rigid etc but caravan could be 12ft ultra light weight to a massive 30ft triaxel so many things different to legistrate
Prevent 80% of accidents
SLOW down. 90 is plenty plenty fast enough when towing and still cover reasonable distance in a days travel.
Any faster is dangerous, burns a lot more fuel and make huge differences to arrival times only minutes.
Once again I must ask Whats the hurry?
There is no excuse for stupidity
I live in a rural area about 160km from Adelaide.I travel on major & minor rds everyday, l see caravans being towed often & wonder why the current trend is to travel at 110kms.
In my opinion licencing will not fix fix the issue unfortunately, there are many causes of accidents, yet adding another licencing arrangement to caravan owners will become yet another expense, an administrative nightmare and more red tape…and for what…be careful what you ask for I recon. I tow a van and yes indeed, taking it steady certainly helps a lot, so I would not disagree with limiting the speed of cars towing caravans, but that’s tricky to enforce as well.
I was a semi driver and now tow a caravan,living full time on the road.If you can’t tow your van safely at 100kph,get off the road.You may not be involved in an accident,but you will probably cause one.Simple answer,buy a tug capable of towing your van,or downsize your van to one you can comfortably tow at 100kph
The faster you go the greater the chance of an accident.
Simple
I have and still drive roadtrains, doubles, triples, quads. The faster the truck travels the less chance you have of gaining control if something goes wrong.
All it takes is one big pot hole, bad rut, big rock and the whole show is trying it.s best to roll you over. Drive a bit slower and the setup, whether it be a car, caravan, semi, roadtrain it won’t get such a violent reaction and you can control it.
Simple
A large survey showed that over 80% of drivers think they are better than average drivers. This is mathematically impossible. People in general think they can handle situations that they clearly can’t. We can advise people to slow down, have better tow hitches and tow rigs, but at the end of the day, some won’t unless forced to do so. As a heavy vehicle driver with more than 30 years experience, I see people deliberately breaking the road rules. We need more stringent rules and heaps more enforcement if we are serious about stamping out rogue behaviour.
I can tow at 100k but choose to travel at 90 except when I start to hold up the traffic and only then speed up to 100 until it’s safe to pull over to let everyone pass
We are currently in WA.
100kph towing speed limit in the state.
You obviously never towed or drove in QLD.
Have noticed in other sites that all drivers are being urged to do 100, or get off the road. This reflects the growing attitude of many and also the growing power of towing vehicles. Also reflects impatience and lack of care towards others who may have a lower powered tow vehicle. Also I wonder if those who promote such speed ever see anything except the white line.o
Well those pushining 100 all the time are just gooses and only have luck with them.
One day luck will have the day off.
When myself and mates are off on holiday touring around we do 80. We.re on our holiday nobody can tell us to go faster or slower. And we don’t even pull a caravan or camper trailer, modern turbo charged single cab utes we drive. We get 20% further on a tank of fuel and see so much more, very important when looking for feral cats and pigs!!
Unfortunately a vast majority of drivers towing caravans are nearing the stage of life whereby they should be considering handing in their licence. Older Age = slower reflexes. Long term licence holders are not up to date with current road rules. Too many caravan towers have no idea how to load, handle & maneuver a caravan.
We have just travelled around Australia and was staggered at the speed some Caravaners were going to overtake us.
I have to agree with Geoff Brown, our trip beginning of the year encompassed 13 000ks and found that fuel consumption with 8 speed VW gearbox fuel consumption best at 100kph. Towed easily and safely at 100.
Once, I was doing a right hand turn, and I had a caravan over take me.
Towing at 100 km/h is wonderful UNTIL something goes wrong and believe me if you have never been in an emergency situation at 100 ks you have absolutely no idea of the terror it causes. We tow a 2 year old van with a Redarc Tow Pro brake controller and ESC in the van and are very careful about towball weight and overall weight and we tow at 90ks. It’s a simple calculation, over a distance of 300 kilometers it would take 3 hours 20 minutes at 90km/h or 3 hours at 100 km/h so you save 20 minutes. Big deal. However, the danger quotient increases exponentially and all you need is roadworks or pit stop and there goes your 20 minutes. As for the “if you can’t tow at 100 get off the road”what about the car drivers who are prevented from travelling at 100 because of licence restrictions or school buses or other conveyances who can’t travel at 100 are they all supposed to get off the road to suit somebody else’s idea of the correct speed??? Travel at the speed you are confident at I reckon, life is too short as it is.