This would be scary

[DoreSlamR]

I was driving home from work this afternoon when i spotted what looked like a truck trailer laying on its side facing the wrong way on the wrong side of the road, as i approached i realised it was a caravan of some sorts, with a commodore still attached to it. Would have been quite a ride!

[Mongoose]

The pillar is kinda in the way...

[DoreSlamR]

Originally Posted by Mongoose

The pillar is kinda in the way...

Yeah but the most important bit is still visible....the commodore in peril!

[Kryton]

it really doesnt take much.
at the GF's parents house (they are at the start of a dirt road) we had some dude covered in blood come running through the paddock at us screaming for help.
anyway he was towing a 6x4 trailer with his Jackaroo down the dirt road.
the trailer got wobbly and pulled him straight off the road and made him roll.
this was only at a speed of of 50km as well.
all were lucky to survive but a hand did go through the windscreen so you can imagine what that looked like.
it really does only take a second and its all over.

[mik]

that would be scary it reminds me of my teen years , while working as a labourer believe it or not at a ford dealer, (i ended up an apprentice at same dealer .
We knocked down a brick wall and loaded a big percentage of the contents onto the tray of an old 68 f100 fully equipped with spongey rear tyres, also had a tandem trailer in tow with with an xk Falcon wagon on board, on the way to the tip the F100 got the colly wobbles in a big way from which there was no escape, the driver yelled hang on boys, the F100 went up on its side sooooooo close to going over....... the xk overtook us ended up in an old ladies front yard, the trailer tore itself off and parked in the opposite direction on the other side of the road we were left in the middle of the road with 3 pairs of stained undies and a large deposit of bricks and rubble on the road..........ahhhh the memories.

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by mik

....... the xk overtook us ended up in an old ladies front yard, the trailer tore itself off and parked in the opposite direction on the other side of the road we were left in the middle of the road with 3 pairs of stained undies and a large deposit of bricks and rubble on the road..........ahhhh the memories.

Similar has occurred on the Bruce Hwy, I saw one tandem ripped from the tow car stuck in the divider between lanes, lucky that one stopped in the ditch between lanes. The second came off with a Volvo on it (or Volvo was tow car cant remember which) which crossed the opposite lanes and hit the embankment, the third time a tandem hit an oncoming car, cant recall but I think one of the occupants of the other car was killed, that one I saw on the news.

I was towing an LJ 2 door Torana and had the trailer start swaying all over the place at 90km/h pulling the back of the car with it, I kept it straight enough but I have no idea how really, just reacted and was lucky enough to pull up. Hire trailer, with 2 different tyre profiles on opposite axles was the cause, ie: a 70 and truck profile on one axle, and the same on the other axle, but one on the left side, one on the right side. Had to unload and swap the tyres round before reloading the car.

[Shonky]

I was towing a car trailer with a LWB Landy on it along a dirt road (Patrol trayback tow vehicle) and hit a deep patch of bulldust. Got the whole thing crossed up and *almost* lost it...

Have absolutely no idea how, but I managed to get it back in. Had more to do with automatic reaction and a healthy dose of luck than calculated skill methinks...

[TP351]

It annoys me, that to get an articulated licence, one has to do a course and/or many leasons and pay $$$. Yet, any peanut can hook a trailer/caravan on almost any car and go, which is potentially a way more unstable combination. Not to mention harder to reverse (it's actually quite humourous to sit and watch at caravan parks at holiday time!). Weight distribution is extremely important and yet few people know how to do it correctly. Watching guys load cars on trailers at Calder park is a real worry. I've seen so many near disasters from this, it's not funny......
I've driven both extensively and I know which one is easier.
IMO anyone towing a trailer should have some sort of licence endorsement and have done some training first.

[ELtim]

I don't get your side mirror though...Theres a gray 4wd on your right...but a statesman coming the same way in the same lane?

[aye you]

Originally Posted by ELtim

I don't get your side mirror though...Theres a gray 4wd on your right...but a statesman coming the same way in the same lane?

hahaha i just seen it then, looks liek someone overtaking and bout to slam into the statesman.....

[mik]

Originally Posted by TP351

It annoys me, that to get an articulated licence, one has to do a course and/or many leasons and pay $$$. Yet, any peanut can hook a trailer/caravan on almost any car and go, which is potentially a way more unstable combination. Not to mention harder to reverse (it's actually quite humourous to sit and watch at caravan parks at holiday time!). Weight distribution is extremely important and yet few people know how to do it correctly. Watching guys load cars on trailers at Calder park is a real worry. I've seen so many near disasters from this, it's not funny......
I've driven both extensively and I know which one is easier.
IMO anyone towing a trailer should have some sort of licence endorsement and have done some training first.

fully agree with you TP351 this is one area that should not be learnt from experience, i was a perfect example of ignorance in my youth , about 30 years ago myself and 3 mates bought a tank fairlane(390 power Minge : ) to go rabbit shooting in (re; sunday too far away) i wont go further into that, but anyway we were going to pick up the tank with a ht premier307 the Tank Fairlane was left in the closed servo next to the car yard, we started to put the tank on .........got the two front wheels just about a foot onto the trailer and noticed the whole lot tank, trailer, car all starting to roll down hill toward the main road one of the guys nearest the drivers side of the holden dived and hit the anchors and pulled up the runaway before it hit the road, the the heavy old tank had lifted up the whole back half of the car the rear wheels where 3 feet off the ground from concrete to bottom of the tyre (no more hand brake), we gave up on the trailer idea.......just 4 young fools we were typical of many, you can`t always look back and laugh if it goes bad.

[JG66ME]

Originally Posted by TP351

It annoys me, that to get an articulated licence, one has to do a course and/or many leasons and pay $$$. Yet, any peanut can hook a trailer/caravan on almost any car and go, which is potentially a way more unstable combination. Not to mention harder to reverse (it's actually quite humourous to sit and watch at caravan parks at holiday time!). Weight distribution is extremely important and yet few people know how to do it correctly. Watching guys load cars on trailers at Calder park is a real worry. I've seen so many near disasters from this, it's not funny......
I've driven both extensively and I know which one is easier.
IMO anyone towing a trailer should have some sort of licence endorsement and have done some training first.

Words of reason.

[ELtim]

Originally Posted by TP351

It annoys me, that to get an articulated licence, one has to do a course and/or many leasons and pay $$$. Yet, any peanut can hook a trailer/caravan on almost any car and go, which is potentially a way more unstable combination. Not to mention harder to reverse (it's actually quite humourous to sit and watch at caravan parks at holiday time!). Weight distribution is extremely important and yet few people know how to do it correctly. Watching guys load cars on trailers at Calder park is a real worry. I've seen so many near disasters from this, it's not funny......
I've driven both extensively and I know which one is easier.
IMO anyone towing a trailer should have some sort of licence endorsement and have done some training first.

I remember the last caravan park I went to with my parents. My Dad is a truck driver (a very good one at that). After reversing ours in he ended up reversing about 5 or 6 others.

[JamesR]

iv been passenger in a Rodeo that was towing an empty tandem when the lock on the trailer coupling broke.. the trailer unhitched itself and started swaying all over the place only being held by 2 chains. if we had been in a smaller car, we could have been in a bit of trouble.

[aquahead2001]

The Rubbish Tip and the Boat Ramp are also wonderful places to sit and watch the shear incompetance of some people with their trailers.

As a driver with a HC Category License, I can't believe that something so dangerous as towing does not require an endorsement that can only be gained through proper training & education.

[flappist]

Dem new supa-brakes from da supacheap factory discount bin are sure good for fully sick stoppies.... doof doof

[aye you]

nice one flappist

[WOTDAH]

Originally Posted by ELtim

I don't get your side mirror though...Theres a gray 4wd on your right...but a statesman coming the same way in the same lane?

That car is going the other way, it's not overtaking. Mirrors do funny things to your mind :

[DoreSlamR]

Actually it is going the same way as me.....i think heh. That bit of road has an over taking lane going the direction i was going. the police diverted the traffic into that lane (where the statesman is) so i am a bit confused unless that car in the mirror is stationary to divert traffic back into their lane

[WOTDAH]

In the mirror it looks like it is going the same way as you, but it isnt.

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by WOTDAH

In the mirror it looks like it is going the same way as you, but it isnt.

Mirrors reflect exactly what you see, they reverse left and right, not front to back. Wait, they reverse both and neither depending how you look at it. Then the camera reverses or flips the image too so the car is not upside down anyway.

Bugger it, Im guessing its stationary and facing the same direction as the OP.



Edit: Wait.... It looks like youre about to see the tailights in the mirror, so that wouldnt happen if it was facing the same direction as the OP.

[WOTDAH]

Originally Posted by fmc351

Wait.... It looks like youre about to see the tailights in the mirror, so that wouldnt happen if it was facing the same direction as the OP.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAA. Now your on the money

[DoreSlamR]

Possibly the keyhole in the door is a giveaway too....

[WILDB]

A similar thing happened early last year when I was on the Bruce HWY at Forest Glen a couple had retired and just bought a new caravan which they were towing with thier new Pajero - all picked up less than an hour earlierwhen they lost control and hit the armco sending the Paj+Van into the ditch approx 5m below and bursting into flames. I was in front by about 250m so I didn't see the aftermath of this but according to the papers they got out ok and the reason the car incinerated was they were carrying multiple jerry cans full to the brim in the back seat.

[broken_suave]

Yep, I saw a carbon copy of this on the highway southbound in northern NSW.

An AU Wagon was towing a caravan. Must have come to grief travelling down a bit of a slope entering a big swoopy bridge (similar to the mooney mooney bridge, for any that know it) the wind has upset the van and it toppled onto its side, lifting the rear of the AU and slingshotting it back to face on comming traffic. Came to a stop facing north, with the back held up about a metre and a half in the air, just like that Commodore.