Folks,

Drove back from Rockhampton to home (near Longreach) yesterday, which
was about 7 hours of driving.  Pretty easy trip, in consideration.

Lots of caravans on the road, which is great when they know how to
drive them properly.   However, I had a frustrating little episode
yesterday arvo, and I thought gleefully of having fisticuffs with the
gent driving his way around Australia in his new Prado...

I was half-way between Jericho and Barcaldine, which is mostly VERY
open, wide & straight 2-lane highway.  Traffic coming the other was
very light.  I came up behind a 4.7m wide-load (there are a LOT of
them on the road at present), with pilot vehicles in front and behind.
By the time I arrived, the rear pilot vehicle was being followed by a
new Prado towing a caravan, and a little minivan like a small Hi-ace.
I am listening to the truck talking to the pilot vehicles on UHF
channel 40, and they are discussing how to get us around.  They had to
wait about 5 minutes till they cleared an upcoming floodway, and so I
was content to wait.  However, I did note that the Caravan was getting
a bit fidgetty with the delay. The truck was doing about 80kph.

Finally, the lead pilot vehicle(about 1.5kms in front) confers with
the truck, and they announce they are ready to let us through.  The
truck pulls over as far as it can to the left, and the rear pilot
vehicle indicates, and starts waving for us to go around. We can see
the road in front is clear for some kms, so it looks good to go. The
Prado/caravan  takes off like a startled rabbit, and gets up alongside
the rear of the truck, and then stays there! I suspect the driver
doesnt know how wide his van is, and thinks he will scrape it up the
side of the truck. The little minivan decides to stay out of it, and
so I start to follow the van.  The rear pilot vehicle is getting a bit
stressed about the delay, and both of us started getting showered with
gravel from the caravan... The caravan has started to get a bit
wobbly, which adds to the gravel being thrown up.

The prado finally inches forward at a snails pace, and takes some
minutes to pass the truck.  The comment is made on the UHF; "Ya gotta
love that caravan driver..". With much relief, I eventually pass the
truck, and get in behind the caravan in front.  I thank the truck
driver over the UHF, who says "No worries".

I come up behind the caravan to overtake him, and the gent has decided
to forget he's towing a van. He now has about 18 inches out in the
opposing lane. By this stage, I would REALLY like to be far, far away
from this gent, as I suspect the god of traffic accidents is hovering
over his right shoulder at present... I take a line just in-board of
the opposing guide-posts, check for no coming traffic, and put the
foot down.  As I overtake the Prado, I find the driver is yelling at
me.  From the 2-way radio, the comment is again made; " Ya just gotta
love that caravan driver"...

I get out of there(turbodiesel goes brroomm good), and come up behind
the lead Pilot vehicle.  Once it is clear to do so, he calls me to say
I can overtake.  I thanked him for his help, and I get the "No worries
mate" in reply. I then overtake and put the foot down to start putting
some distance between us.

Now, I know that I made the mistake of following the caravan in
overtaking the truck, but I did so because the rear pilot vehicle was
telling all 3 of us to do so(and the road was clear for a goodly
distance).  However, I kept thinking about the things the
Prado/caravan didnt do very well in the circumstances:

1).  He should have a UHF 2-way radio, and he should listen to it!  I
didnt see an antenna on the new Prado, which makes me wonder what
preparations he made to do the big trip... He certainly didnt show any
signs of hearing the truck talking to the pilot vehicles.

2).  He dithered when overtaking.  If he's driving a caravan without
knowing it's dimensions, he needs a good kicking.  Dithering when
overtaking is when things rapidly go pear-shaped for everyone.  Of all
the times to be decisive on the road, this would have to be one of the
most important. If he doesnt think it'll work, get out of there. Pull
up under a tree and have a cuppa. Give the truck an hours head-start,
and it will be quite a while before they encounter it again.
Again, he would have had a much easier time if he was able to talk to
the truck via UHF.

3).  Even when flustered, you still need to drive the bloody vehicle!
He forgot the van overhangs the lane if you drive near the centreline.
I live in the hope he isnt an airline pilot in his real job...

4). The trials and tribulations of driving a caravan isnt anyone
else's fault. Indeed, it is pretty darn difficult for other people to
negotiate a caravan if the driver isnt considering other people. There
are many, many caravan drivers who DO think about others, and they are
easy to negotiate past without any hassles. This gent wasnt one of
them.

   

All right; rant over.  Maybe I'm getting old & picky, but this annoyed
the crap out of me.  Apparently, it also annoyed the crap out of the
Prado driver as well...

P.S.  Hopping into my car in Rockhampton on Thursday, a Hi-ace van
pulls up beside me and the teenage passenger asks me if I want to buy
a stereo for my home?  I declined with a smile, and they speed off to
find someone who DOES want to spend a load of cash on a home theatre
that most likely has a 10/10 warranty (10 minutes or 10kms; whichever
comes first).
Apparently, they were working Rocky a month or so ago, and originate
from the Gold Coast. Police raided them last time, and found that
about half the vans contents were hot.
...I have to wonder why someone thinks this is a viable money-earner.
Surely, it would be more cost-effective to sell this gear in other
ways that dont cost heaps of money in fuel!

 

Cheers,

Rod.....Out Back