Quote:
Originally Posted by LowRanger
You're right. the clubs were not asked for their opinions, the whole thing was done by volunteers as representatives of the clubs. secrecy was supposedly kept at the request of the RTA. details leaked to 4wdA, but they got it wrong. Most clubs wanted to know more and have a say, but the info was kept close to the chest until a meeting was held the other month, by the association, with a representative of the RTA,
From what I got from the meeting, the sole reason these restrictions were being imposed were crash impact. the contact points of cars are all supposed to be within a 150mm zone. this is so that when two vehicles collide, these contact zones either slow the impact down by crumpling or prevent vehicle intrusion into the passenger compartment. this zone at the front is also important, because on most passenger cars, certainly all new ones, the shape of the front of the car is designed to impact with an adult pedestrian of average height, below their centre of gravity, guiding the body onto the bonnet and off to the side. by having a lift in excess of their recommendations, the body will most likely pass under the vehicle causing more injuries.
Like it or not, because our vehicles drive on the road, they are going to impose some sort of rule that makes them comply within certain requirements. At least the Association has got some concessions on the original VSI50. According to the draft, you get 50mm suspension lift and 50mm increase in tyre diameter, totalling a height increase of 75mm, with a constant or regular load. this means, it is not measured unladen, like the original VSI50, but with all your camping and recovery gear in it. If you are in a club, they will allow another 25mm because they assume your vehicle skills will either be better or formalised.:D
If you want to go somewhere between 100 and 150mm, you will have to get it engineered and certified, which you should be doing now anyway. over 150mm, you may be looking at conditional rego or none at all.
the other purpose of the whole scheme is to keep records of vehicle modifications so that when an accident occurs, it can be recorded properly. At the moment, the RTA has no differentiation on their accident statistics that say if it's a 4wd, let alone a modified one. I'm sure that when the figures start to tally up, they will find that modified 4wd's are not the demons they think they are.
Since the laws will not be retrospective, they suggested that when we renew our rego online, we activate the drop down box that asks if our vehicles are modified. this then creates a record that your vehicle is already modified and any new laws that come in will have less impact on you.
Anyway, it's not even before the minister yet. when it does go up, it may cop more changes for the better or the worse and then it's pretty well out of everyone's hands.
This was always going to come, you guys can carry on like spoilt children or compensate for lack of testosterone by overstating your off-road toughness all you like, but it ain't going to do any good. The only way we are going to get a fair deal out of this is by having a strong representative body, speaking for all 4wders. At the moment, all we have is the 4wdNSW&ACT, without the TLCC, the NIssan Club, the Range Rover Club and now the Suzuki Club. With diminishing funds from falling membership, they will be finding it even harder to fight.
If you really want to fight it, join a club and take a position on the association executive. The bureaucrats don't want to talk to one association, let alone multiple user groups, so a strong single representative entity is needed.
so for the rest of you, before you go off on another pointless rant, get some facts guys.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: :mad::mad:
