Court case for overloaded caravan

[W&KO]

Is this the most significant court case relating to caravanners in Australia, ever? - RV DAILY (http://rvdaily.com.au/is-this-the-most-significant-court-case-relating-to-caravanners-in-australia-ever/)

Unfortunately the authorities are resource poor which means it’s all re-active I.e. after the event.....lucky for most out there

if the setup in the article was within limits would it have changed the outcome? I guessing he may not be in-front today the magistrate

When was the last time you were over a weighbridge?

[Homestar]

Interesting.

There are a lot of people out there well over, most of those would say they don’t know they are, but that won’t wash. I do know I’m legal in all departments when towing my van, there are now public weighbridges everywhere in Vic free to use 24/7 on every major freeway so at least down here there’s no excuse not to know.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

wow,, imagine van builders having to get a PUBLIC weighbridge ticket before selling a van,,
bring it on...

[Homestar]

When re registering a van in Vic a weigh bridge certificate is required for Vicroads. Would be interesting to see the uproar if it was for all van sales. [emoji16]

I don't think there's a new van sold that is at or under the claimed tare weight. They should have to provide proof of this. [emoji106]

[Bigbjorn]

If you have a crash whilst illegally laden and kill or maim someone your insurers wash their hands of you. You could lose everything you own to pay legals and damages. You could end up sharing showers with rough tattooed men for a few years.

[DiscoMick]

Yes, we like to ignore the legalities and think it won't happen to us - and then complain when it does.

[DiscoKym]

I had a chat to a helpful SA Police officer at a caravan show about this.

He is personally involved with two cases of crashes caused by being over weight.

In both cases the compulsory third party insurer has pulled out due to being unroadworthy. Both have gone to civil court case just for medical bills, one is for $1,000,000 and the other $1,200,000.

Not sure about you guys but I couldn't afford that. [bigsad]

[Homestar]

Remembering though that under Australian law that third party insurance like TAC or its interstate equivalent is a no fault system as still covers people injured while in any automobile in any condition and if you sue for medical expenses of say $1,000,000, then all financial records for this are taken into consideration. Say Medicare covered $700,000 through standard Hospital stay and surgery and the TAC payout (or equivalent) would have been $300,000 then no further costs would be awarded apart from court costs.

Exactly this was discussed by a Lawyer on the radio last week and a claim of over $200,000 against a driver after these things were taken into account came to $10,000. Still not somewhere I’d want to be, and certainly not condoning illegal behaviour but just saying the figures don’t pan out quite like it shows. This isn’t America (Yet).

[p38arover]

Just a note of warning to all.

If you want to discuss the case mentioned in the OP, be very careful. One wouldn't want to have the courts declaring a mis-trial over comments made on social media as has happened in the past. I suspect the forum might be classed as social media. See also Former detainee Dylan Voller gets court win against media giants over Facebook comments - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-24/court-finds-media-liable-for-facebook-comments-by-public/11240826)

[Bigbjorn]

Remembering though that under Australian law that third party insurance like TAC or its interstate equivalent is a no fault system as still covers people injured while in any automobile in any condition and if you sue for medical expenses of say $1,000,000, then all financial records for this are taken into consideration. Say Medicare covered $700,000 through standard Hospital stay and surgery and the TAC payout (or equivalent) would have been $300,000 then no further costs would be awarded apart from court costs.

Exactly this was discussed by a Lawyer on the radio last week and a claim of over $200,000 against a driver after these things were taken into account came to $10,000. Still not somewhere I’d want to be, and certainly not condoning illegal behaviour but just saying the figures don’t pan out quite like it shows. This isn’t America (Yet).

Centrelink has a Compensation Recovery Section that does just that. If you were receiving Centrelink payments during the period then Comp Recovery claim it back and being Commonwealth they are first in the queue. After Centrelink, lawyers, hospitals etc. often there is not much left from a large lump sum compensation. Then the Centrelink regional office will ask what you have done with the balance and assess the income from it if you are receiving a Centrelink payment.

[DoubleChevron]

overloaded ...... pffftt ............... "she'll be right mate".















































https://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=152515&d=1562740673

[Tombie]

overloaded ...... pffftt ............... "she'll be right mate".




https://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachments/trailers-vans-and-campers/152515d1562740673-court-case-overloaded-caravan-truck.jpg

Thats nothing.... Google "Thailand overloaded Truck" - I see them all the time when I'm there...

[Tombie]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160329/3dfc5ae82b969add582566e9d1e1494c.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160329/7b878ab9a2d962329cfb8a03e3387f9a.jpg

[p38arover]

The driver has been sentenced to gaol.

See John Cadogen's video - search for 4 years in prison for overloaded caravan driver: You have been warned on YouTube. (Not linked as JC videos usually have bad language.)

Sentenced to 4 years with 2 years non-parole. That was appealed and the sentence was increased to 6-1/2 years with a 4 year non-parole period.

[Tote]

That was a very long video to discuss a single topic. But thank you for the info.

Regards,
Tote

[BradC]

So it wasn't just "slightly overloaded". The problem with Johns video is even if they do watch it and manage to use the communal brain cell to understand it, it'll still be a case of "it'll never happen to me".

Edit : Here's the appeal transcript. R v Russell




-



NSW Caselaw (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1852c8b665f279080ed9adcc)

It's not a bad read. Looking for the original trial now.

[Arapiles]

A print article:

Jail time doubled over fatal caravan crash | Mandurah Mail | Mandurah, WA (https://www.mandurahmail.com.au/story/8029739/jail-time-doubled-over-fatal-caravan-crash/)


Edit: so they moved house using a caravan, by stuffing it full of household goods. And he was a professional truck driver and admitted that he'd done this before.

Oh, and a tinny on the roof as well.

Edit Edit: It's well known that because the Prado can only legally tow 2,500kg a large number of the Prados towing caravans are doing so illegally.

[Arapiles]

It's not a bad read. Looking for the original trial now.


The original trial record doesn't appear to be available.

Edit: they only publish some of the court's cases.

[loanrangie]

A print article:

Jail time doubled over fatal caravan crash | Mandurah Mail | Mandurah, WA (https://www.mandurahmail.com.au/story/8029739/jail-time-doubled-over-fatal-caravan-crash/)


Edit: so they moved house using a caravan, by stuffing it full of household goods. And he was a professional truck driver and admitted that he'd done this before.

Oh, and a tinny on the roof as well.

Edit Edit: It's well known that because the Prado can only legally tow 2,500kg a large number of the Prados towing caravans are doing so illegally.

Just seeing whats out on the roads i reckon at least 50% are on the edge or over loaded, the mentality seems to be to get the biggest box on wheels they can then stuff it and the vehicle full of crap and off we go.

[Tins]

Thats nothing.... Google "Thailand overloaded Truck" - I see them all the time when I'm there...

TIT eh Mike? The trucks there are nuts. People say that the Thais must be poor drivers due to the high per capita road toll. I disagree.The Thais treat the roads the same way they treat crowded footpaths around street markets: they don't bump into you and they always make room to let you in. I reckon the higher toll is due to the fact that if they do crash there are usually 5 people and a dog, or pig, on a moped and fourteen plus livestock in the back of the Rodeo.

I love Thailand.

[scarry]

Edit Edit: It's well known that because the Prado can only legally tow 2,500kg a large number of the Prados towing caravans are doing so illegally.

Just to be confusing some Plado models had different towing ratings.Some are 3000 KG.

[JDNSW]

And if you think Thailand is bad, try Myanmar. Particularly since they drive on the right and get most of their cars second hand from Japan!

[Slunnie]

TIT eh Mike? The trucks there are nuts. People say that the Thais must be poor drivers due to the high per capita road toll. I disagree.The Thais treat the roads the same way they treat crowded footpaths around street markets: they don't bump into you and they always make room to let you in. I reckon the higher toll is due to the fact that if they do crash there are usually 5 people and a dog, or pig, on a moped and fourteen plus livestock in the back of the Rodeo.

I love Thailand.


And if you think Thailand is bad, try Myanmar. Particularly since they drive on the right and get most of their cars second hand from Japan!

Totally agree with you there Tins. In amongst all of the chaos on the Thai roads, there is actually a total awareness and respect for other road users with anticipation and giving of space. I had never been so scared in a vehicle as I have been in Thailand until I realised how they were driving, and then I thought it was actually really cool. It just takes a bit of time to get used to the drivers driving on the left of the road, in the middle of the road, on the right of the road, beside the road and 4 cars wide on a 2 lane road. Makes me laugh how they just run an additional set of springs under the backs of the utes and trucks for some extra load carrying capacity! The drivers in Myanmar didn't worry me so much, they were far more regular in comparison to Thailand.

[NavyDiver]

Is this the most significant court case relating to caravanners in Australia, ever? - RV DAILY (http://rvdaily.com.au/is-this-the-most-significant-court-case-relating-to-caravanners-in-australia-ever/)

Unfortunately the authorities are resource poor which means it’s all re-active I.e. after the event.....lucky for most out there

if the setup in the article was within limits would it have changed the outcome? I guessing he may not be in-front today the magistrate

When was the last time you were over a weighbridge?

I put my trailer and boat on one- rather cheap way of finding out I had at least 300kg of extra fiber glass or resin[thumbsupbig]

On the "Toyota Prado". A dealer sold a new one and installed an OVER spec'd towbar on one very recently!

It was taken back as It could not legally do what was specified by the buyers.

Honestly a worry that the handed back "Toyota Prado" is likely on the road with a tow bar stating it can do what the car cannot legally do!:rulez: