With so many caravans on the road at the moment, it is perhaps almost inevitable that there will be a similar spike in the number of accidents in which they are involved.
And, sadly, that appears to be the case.
Yesterday afternoon, a multi-vehicle crash on the M1/Pacific Motorway at Beenleigh, south of Brisbane, forced the closure of all northbound lanes for about an hour.
The Courier-Mail reports that a truck and SUV towing a caravan crashed, causing the SUV to roll just after 3pm.
Paramedics assessed two adults and two children on scene.
There are plenty of caravans on the road at this time of the year, PIC: Cizza
Queensland Ambulance Service later confirmed four patients were taken to Logan Hospital and one to the PA Hospital, all in a stable condition.
And, yesterday morning, two people were assessed by Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) paramedics after a vehicle towing a caravan rolled on the Burnett Highway at Glan Devon
The southburnett.com.au website reports that emergency services were called to the single-vehicle crash, near Runnymede Road, just after 11am.
A QAS spokesperson told the site that one person was transported by ambulance to Kingaroy Hospital in a stable condition with minor injuries, while the second declined transport.
There has been an ever-increasing focus put on safe caravan towing behaviour in recent years in a bid to reduce the number of accidents.
For example, late last year, Victorian police specifically targeted vanners in its week-long Operation Nomad road safety operation.
Swan Hill Highway Patrol Senior Constable, David Healey, said at the time that, unfortunately, caravans and trailers are regularly involved in serious collisions and rollovers.
“While weight can be a contributing factor, more often than not people lack the knowledge and skill for safe towing,” he said. “… we’d certainly rather prevent these collisions than respond to a collision that could have been avoided.”
Caravans and trailers are required to adhere to strict weight limits and must not exceed length and rear overhang limits.
Safe towing tips for caravans and trailers include:
# Are you confident that your van is loaded correctly and meets all legal weight requirements? Comment below.
Are you a Grey Nomad member yet? Click here to find out about the discounts, competitions and other benefits on offer
Why is the automatic assumption that the vehicle towing the caravan was in the wrong … Just sayin’ 🙂
Too many inexperienced oldies towing too larger caravans at too higher speeds.
A perfect recipe for disaster.
At what age exactly are you an “oldie”? I would have thought that an “oldie” would have more experience than a “youngie”.
Too many younger inexperienced people towing large caravans. The M1 is a case in point.
Mandatory towing classes for new inexperienced drivers.
Most of the oldies are actually the ones doing a safe speed because they have the time.
When you actually watch the ones tearing along with a large van flapping on the back at 120kph passing everything in sight and pulling risky manouvres it is normally the younger generations.
In recent times I have kind of kept a bit of a check on the age of drivers passing me with a van on the back.
They are invariably the 30 to 50 age brackets and not grey nomads.
Keep in mind that I cruise at 100kph with the van on which is the speed limit in my state, but am regularly passed by the afore mentioned group doing well over the speed limit.
There are so many complete wombats on our roads now it is just cannot be laid at the feet of any one group in particular.
There needs to be a mandatory maximum speed limit of 100km an hour for all caravan towing. I have been towing a caravan for over 12 years and only travel at no more than 95km an hour. Too many cowboys out there!
More inspectors policing/educating caravaners would go a long way to alleviating some of the problems encountered. Checks are made for alcohol,drugs and speed so why not correct weight.
Sorry I don’t believe it is just overweight.
Most issues is idiotic drivers who push the barriers with speed.
On the Bruce I watched one van and a ram fly past rows and rows of vans I called him an idiot, he just said pull over and we will sort it out, I’ll do what I want.
There are some setups that are good with the weights but the restrictions put on make it hard to be legal even with all upgrades done.
Overweight I believe is the person towing a van with the van falling forward on the tow hitch or lifted backward here is your problem.
My thoughts only
Before leaving home i got the tape measure checking the leavel of the car and van. My neighbour came over to me and said your going over the top aren’t ya. It’s part of my check list before leaving. Do other people check theirs levels before a trip.
There already is. Any vehicle with a combined weight over 4500kg is limited to 100km/h. This includes trailers. Very few caravaners know this.
Only a speed limit in 2 states martin
or perhaps, too many slowboys out there, creating rage and mayhem behind them.
Speed limit towing caravans should be capped at 100 Klm an hour. And yeah we’re slow boys .
The speed limit is the maximum not a must do limit.
For me I tow at 100kph when conditions and limits allow but if someone is comfortable at a slower speed then I would not urge them to step out of their comfort zone and risk an accident.
What I would ask is that evryone towing a caravan to be mindful of traffic behind them and assist them get past.
Carriaige of a UHF radio is highly recommended and turned on to channel 40 at all times.
We have been travelling fulltime for over 2 years now and very rarely do we have trouble with slowboys. The one’s that make us cringe are the “fastboys” that pass us, we sit on 95.
So why do you want a maximum of 100km if you only travel at no more than 95km an hour? 5km is not enough to let other vehicles pass you in a reasonable manner. You would be somebody that frustrates Truck Drivers. Their vehicles being restricted to 100km in the majority of cases (I know of some company’s who limit there trucks to 95km) and furthermore frustrates those of us that want to travel at the speed limit that has been determined appropriate by the authorities.
Unfortunately this is much to do with the law of averages as with anything else.
There are more vehicles period on the road and caravans are no exception.
If you take the number of vans registered in Australia as a percentage of vehicles on our roads they represent roughly 4% of the total.
In the last statistics I could find, caravans are represented in about 4% of accidents so sort of line ball with what you might expect.
It is a bit like light plane crashes.
Statistics show you are far safer flying in a light aircraft than you are driving to the airport, but of course, if there is a crash it is front page news whereas a car crash is often a bit ho-hum to the media.
But if a caravan is represented in an accident regardless of who was at fault, the media are all over it with the we are all going to die attitude because of these dreadful people towing caravans.
I do agree that a mandatory towing course would be a good idea so people get a good understanding of weights and loading and an Australia wide speed limit for towing any trailer of 100kph maximum would also be an excellent idea.
WA has it and it really is fast enough to be towing a van of any weight.
I see your point and agree, good on you Greg 1
Spot on. 100k when good conditions an drop speed when the roads are not so good.
Many caravans and combinations are overweight. We need more weigh stations, and even better free weigh stations for retirees.
Why not make it that caravan and trailer towing drivers be required to enter open weigh stations that are used for truck drivers, this may make the drivers more responsible for their set up and weights.
Not just oldies I’m afraid
It seems in most stories caravanners are automatically blamed or at fault. There are a lot of very experienced caravanners and drivers out there who are NOT having accidents.
There is also a few truck drivers who seemingly go out of their way to try and cause crashes,
Passing as close as possible so their “bow wave” causes caravan sway even in a well balanced set up.
Pulling out in front of traffic with zero regard for other drivers.
I use the Bruce Highway as an example – most accidents seem to be involving trucks!!!
I appreciate most truck operators are very good in their mobile offices but how about backing off on the auto blame game.
Excess weight is the enemy, particularly if it is distributed in a way that places too much or too little load on the tow ball. Tow vehicle will be unbalanced affecting braking, steering and directional stability.
You can often spit these rigs a long way off, and they need to be avoided.
That is a theory only and one that is well accepted however there has been no scientific study to support this theory. The only study and experiment that I am aware of was done in the USA. It concluded that there was little difference in safety towing with a 5% to ball weight or 12% and provided there wasn’t a negative tow ball weight. However, high speed was a major factor in loosing control and it compounded itself with smaller increment when getting faster.
There should be an endorsement put on the licence after completing a training course to tow vans and large trailers. That would also require in the training how to reverse the set up.
if you can’t manoeuvre it backwards you shouldn’t drive it forward.
I am now 70 years old and have been towing Caravans since I was 18. I never tow more than 90kph even though I could easily go faster. Too many people travel too fast and are not properly set up. I recently saw a 24 foot caravan being towed by a Ford Ranger with a family of 5 with everything you could possibly think of loaded in both vehicles. My other concern is the state of country/regional roads. Some are now outright dangerous with potholes and the shoulder of the road deteriorating. There are some roads I now will not travel as they are just too dangerous.
Bugger the speed limits, I drive to the condition of the roads, and most roads are not fit to drive over 80km/h so I will happy stay under 80km/h and if for just a minute a car can’t pass me and fells trapped behind, well they need to get over themselves, take a breath, relax, before they kill someone.
When I got my license over 60 years ago I was always taught that when towing the tow vehicle must always be as heavy or idealy heavier than the trailer it was towing thus allowing more control over the load.
Interesting calling these “incidents” accidents.
Most accidents are when there has been an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance.
We buy our six-ton missile and head off down the highway of disaster with generally no true knowledge of or capability to handle such a rig without any formal training. As for weights, physics has absolutely no true bearing of what can and cannot be done.
She’ll be right mate all looks good is the general attitude.
I could ramble on falling on deaf ears. Bottom line is ignorance and complacency = crash NOT accident.
I agree with Kevin most roads are not good enough for the speed limit you drive to suit the road I always try and let people pass where possible especially trucks as they are working I can sit on the 100 and 110 on the freeway but prefer the back roads where I can get to see the scenery as I go at a more comfortable speed.I have just turned 83 and have been towing our van mainly through SA VIC NSW and Queensland since we retired at 70 we have a Geist 485 which we have had since 2005.
My biggest problem is I try to leave a good buffer zone in front of me i.e. one car length for each 10k of speed. BUT then a vehicle including one towing something just pull into my buffer space causing me to adjust my speed to regain my safe buffer distance.
UHF communication is the key to avoid any truck-caravan confrontations. I tow a 1.4 tonne caravan at 80km/h. Whenever I spot a semi behind me, I jump straight onto channel 40 and say I’ll pull off at the earliest opportunity. It gives the truckie time to back off and makes them happy knowing they will not be held up. Not enough caravanners use channel 40.