The Easter holiday period is traditionally among the most deadly on Australia’s roads and, sadly, this year has seen its share of tragedy.
While preliminary figures indicate the numbers of deaths may actually be down on the long weekend itself, that will be of little comfort to those whose lives have been forever changed by the death of a loved one.
And then, of course, there are also the many, many more non-fatal accidents that have led to injury and trauma.
Almost inevitably, some of these accidents have involved caravans.
On the morning of April 21, a Toyota LandCruiser towing a caravan was involved in a collision with a Mitsubishi ASX on the Riverina Highway at Rennie in New South Wales.
Tragically, one of the three people in the Mitsubishi died at the scene. The male driver and female passenger of the Landcruiser were not injured.
And, on April 22, a car towing a caravan rolled over on WA’s Forrest Highway near Myalup. Details of any injuries are not known.
In New South Wales, at least 11 people died on state roads during the Easter holidays. The Centre for Road Safety says fatalities on the state’s roads are up 18% for the year, with 107 dying so far in 2022, compared to 90 this time last year.
Chief Executive Officer Russell White said each death rippled through the community.
“Often road safety is seen as just the immediate impact of the crash but the devastation that goes on for families and communities is a life sentence,” he said. “Those people involved never get over it.”
In Queensland, police say wild weather and floodwaters have contributed to the high road toll.
“It’s quite clear that the weather conditions, particularly during the earlier part of this year, played a part in the road toll and that’s why it’s very important that people drive to the conditions,” said Acting Chief Superintendent Ray Rohweder. “The impacts of these crashes are widespread throughout our community not only with those who must deal with losing a loved one but also those coming to terms with lifelong injuries.”
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Federal Roads need to fix the roads not patch them !!!
RV drivers need to drive more safely and to the prevailing conditions, potholes included. The included image shows a ‘family’ van which has been located in the inside lane and rolled all the way to the side of the road. This would indicate high speed at the time.
Single lane each way. Solid lines on left and right mark the road shoulders. The cars in the right lane are getting around the accident.
Sorry. This is a dual carriage way . The northbound lanes cannot be seen through the scrub.. Just before this location is a slight bend and the condition of this section of roadway is unlikley to be a hazard.. At 100 kph it is not uncommon to be overtaken by medium sized cars towing caravans.. travel this road often.
Hi Chris,
could I borrow your crystal Ball please?
Couple of things.. NSW toll is up 18% compared to when everyone was in lockdown, borders closed no travel work from home. I reckon despite even 1 being tragic, that’s not bad.
Second, as there is a lot of talk about caravan accidents, where would we look for the stats to compare against 5 years ago? Accidents per number of registered caravans.
Reckon you might have nailed it Me Mate.
Dept of Transport (Commonwealth and State) does not consider caravan accidents to be prevalent enough to keep separate figures for them. They track accidents for motorcycles, trucks and cars. The caravaning public may think there are a lot of accidents involving vans but it is not significant enough for them to worry about currently.
I was traveling on the Bruce Highway between Rockhampton and Mackay doing 100kph when a Landcruiser pulling a big van flew past me as if I was sitting still. When we got to the next rest stop I seen him there and he had his family in with him 3 little ones.
All too often I see that Some really need to slow down
“Slow and steady wins the race”, i have experienced the same, they will overtake you two or three times, im like you travelling a reasonable rate ,driving to the road and traffic conditions. Safe driving.
Any road fatality is sad for all involved and the impact is felt by family and friends. It amuses me though to see the number of truck accidents and roll-overs reported by state authorities each week but receive minimal media coverage However, should a caravan be involved news of the incident will be spread wide and far. A recent national annual road toll summary identified that 180 road fatalities involved heavy transport, perhaps that industry might also be a valid focus point?
I agree with you.
We keep reading about caravan accidents but I’ve yet to see statistics or reports of any caravan incident investigations. I’ve observed numerous police swarming all over a vehicle accident; sometimes restricting traffic for hours. What happens to these reports? How can the general public obtain access to them? And with caravans do they check for installed and correctly operating safety equipment?
Dept of Transport (Commonwealth and State) does not consider caravan accidents to be prevalent enough to keep separate figures for them. They track accidents for motorcycles, trucks and cars. The caravaning public may think there are a lot of accidents involving vans but it is not significant enough for them to worry about currently.
Also some need to slow down I travel Princes Highway I must admit sometimes sit little bit above the speed limit but all too frequently see cars with caravan overtake me like Iam standing still. Usually vans and cars packed to the hilt with bikes canoe’s etc
Why do the caravan groups keep on advertising these crashes. It just creates more hated towards caravaners and often creates chatter and discussion and blame on how the accident happened when we don’t actually know
As a Professional long distance truck driver I often shake my head at the speed that some people Tow there Caravans at I am speed limited to 100 Kmh but Gee a lot of them Fly past my truck.
Hi Lewis ,Tow small off road campertrailer+ 4wd ,i stick to limit,have being overtaken by people towiing MASSIVE caravans just ZOOM past me,
I also was a professional driver, still seeing and shaking my head as “idots” still doing the same stupid things on the road, in caravans overtaking and speeding with 6000KG caravan and 12 to 14 meters long.
27/4/22 my wife and i and friends travelled to Cobar NSW towing our vans,the weather was terrible and so is the so called highway,most of the time we sat on 90kmh,we were passed by two off road vans towed by4wds like we were standing still and then proceeded to drive out of sight,the weather and the road condition where they passed was not the kind suited for the speed they were doing.
I would really like to see all caravan accidents researched and the results accumulated to look for patterns and propose fixes.
Its about time people towing caravans need to get a licence, i went for my motor bike licence, did the theory and practical test and learnt the correct way to ride under all conditions on the road. Some people towing caravans have no idea of the basic requirements for towing and are let out onto the roads with NO EXPERIENCE, and the other one is no common-sense..a accident waiting to happen. Like a truck licence you learn to drive with an experienced trainer, you pass your test then you can drive. Towing a caravan 13 to 14 meters long weighing 5000 to 6000KG for the first time is dangerous, especially when only driving a car on its own.
Get the stats correct. A caravan is generally 7 -9 metres in length and the tow vehicle is usually 5 -7 metres in length thus making the entire coupled pair between 12 – 16 metres in length overall plus most vans weigh from 1800 Kg to about 2700 Kg and tow vehicles from 1600 Kg to 2800 Kg.
Well Chris my tow vehicle 5.5 meters long, caravan 8.5…now can YOU COUNT. This is the reason why people should be tested and licenced to tow a CARAVAN.
Absolutely George. In WA the speed limit for any vehicle towing anything, even box trailers, is 100kmh. This needs to be introduced Australia wide.
Totally agree….
Can’t believe the amount of long vans we see without Reese Hitches or alike they should be mandatory! Also maybe conducting a basic towing course as well for all types of camper trailers and vans. Seen some frightening towing on the road and lets no go into the maneuvering of vans.
Surely you jest? A Reese hitch, and others, are used only by peoole who do not understand physics and are trying to make a car do things that it never was designed to do. ALWAYS the weight on the wheels of a car should be AT LEAST 10% greater than the weight on the wheels of the caravan it is towing, as this minimises the chances of the “Tail wagging the Dog”. Simple physics at work..
P.S Vans do not come in “amounts”. They come in “numbers”, as do ALL things that can be counted.
Sadly, most people who tow caravans don’t understand the physics of kinetic energy and articulated vehicles. Any object in motion contains a certain amount of kinetic energy. That amount depends on the mass of the combination and the speed that it travels at. Some of you may be aware that the formula for this calculation is mass times velocity squared divided by two. There is a lot of bureaucratic concern about the mass and people forget that the velocity has a far greater influence than the mass. I regularly see large outfits exceeding the speed limits and even at 100 Km/Hr under many conditions that’s too fast. Appreciate that when things go wrong the kinetic energy needs to be expended. These outfits need to be driven according to the conditions,not necessarily the speed limits. Once the outfit is out of shape the kinetic energy of the trailer will result in loss of control.
Slow down and enjoy the ride.