Thread: An Accident waiting to happen

Originally Posted by Wraithe

I must be bad, could not stop laughing at this first video... Bet he dont do that again...

The idiot that lost control is a perfect example of someone that dont know how to drive... Firstly over reacting to the pull when he hit the gravel, and its pretty darn obvious that he was going faster than his abilities...
Boy did he make a mess, I would not like to see how much damage to the grill and possibly the radiator...

I remember a family friend heading home on the Meekatharra-Mt Augustus rd some time in the 1980's, he had a couple state pollies with him when a stock truck went past in the opposite direction... Half way down the trailers a XB panel collided with them, panel van was overtaking...
Sadly Brian got hurt but he was one of the 3 politicians in the car... Of course, like all good friends(and his family), we all had to give him a hard time about the 3 of them nearly vacating there seats...
He was probably the only one that could laugh about it, the other 2 where up there to check out the condition of the roads and the dangers involved...Karma..

Johntins, as you know, there are lots of steering wheel attendants and we have all seen them and there actions... They are the ones who give us a bad rep, but when a car driver has a bad time with those idiots, we should use the term, "Not all truck drivers are like that, only a few. Please dont brand us with the same brush", Same as the ones who brand land rover drivers(But I know, we are all the same, terrors off road for not getting stuck so easy)...

As for crash cams, I had one that stopped working... an hour before some stupid woman in a white Camry, with child in back seat, she was wearing a black slip on dress and had dark brown hair, I know because the vision of what happened wont go away... S bends, between Quairading and Cunderden, came over the ridge into the first bend, truck coming other way didnt hear my call on UHF, thus he quickly slowed half way through bend and pulled into dirt, car behind pulled out and some how squeezed between us, Bull bars where level when she went through, I was running left wheel on edge of drop off(I had 88 tonne pushing me and doing 90 through the bend)... On return trip I stopped and followed my wheel marks on foot, I was 6 inchs from going bush and hitting a few trees(big enough to demolish cab) and a big pile of pushed up rocks, big enough to destroy the truck... the other driver stopped too and we measured the road between marks, she had 7ft between the trucks, I didnt even hit her...
How, I got no idea, we should have hit but didnt...
Police informed but as we had no rego and cam not working, nothing they could do but put it on radio asking people to take care while we where emptying the Quairading CBH bin....
There where 12 roadtrains doing that run, all of us grossing between 83 tonne and 92.5 tonne...Most of the run we where able to sit on 100 kmh and as it was off the main highway, we had very few problems, but that day I was shaken, not stirred...


Its bad news when idiots dont think before acting, but funny when we see videos of them getting a harsh lesson... Poor trucky probably needs new tail lights...

Follow the link in the reply after the video... the radiator is in the passenger seat!

My Co-worker called in sick 2 weeks ago because she "had a bit of a crash" ... won't send pic for privacy reasons, but one 300mm diameter marri tree was on the roof racks and the other where the water pump lives! I'm glad she didn't call it an accident!! Apparently though "the corner came up too quick!!" Gravel and idiots don't mix.

Originally Posted by Redfoxie

Follow the link in the reply after the video... the radiator is in the passenger seat!

My Co-worker called in sick 2 weeks ago because she "had a bit of a crash" ... won't send pic for privacy reasons, but one 300mm diameter marri tree was on the roof racks and the other where the water pump lives! I'm glad she didn't call it an accident!! Apparently though "the corner came up too quick!!" Gravel and idiots don't mix.

She was lucky it wasnt a Salmon Gum... 18 inch salmon gum, went through bull bar then caved the cab in, driver was killed(the truck was loaded and grossed around 90 tonne)... The tree is still standing and growing fine... Those trees dont forgive at all...This happened not far from Trayning, some 15 years ago...

Marri's get big, the redgums I grew up around are babies compared to the Marri... I have a few Marri's around the paddock that come close to a Karri in size...

I think it was last year when a car hit a Karri branch, every one ok but the car stopped instantly... I was told the branch hit the deck just in front of the car...

Originally Posted by johntins

Yep. I run with my lights on no matter what the conditions. People can say "look at that ****head, he's got his lights on and it's not dark" but at least that means they've seen me.

As long as they are on low beam... Its the ones on highbeam that are dangerous during the day...

Originally Posted by Wraithe

As long as they are on low beam... Its the ones on highbeam that are dangerous during the day...

Yes indeed, and properly aimed.

I have a good friend who runs 30 odd road trains out of Normanton , actually its prolly his water carrier in the original post as he does most off the road works up that way.

He tells me - (actually its that common he's stopped telling me ) - about 2 maybe 3 caravans crash into his road trains most dry ( tourist ) seasons up that way, and its usually people who have got the super payout , bought the 4x4 and flash caravan , never towed anything in their life and get let loose on the roads. His drivers tell me the people towing the caravans are too scared to move over in case they might scratch their new pride and joy and then panic when they see a road train coming the other way.

I can only wonder when I see things like those video's if the police actually take action against those drivers , cause sure as hell if it was the truck at fault there would be much screaming about it and something needing to be done.

Cheers Ean

A couple of times I have encountered road trains in the NT, I found it easy to deal with them.

On unsealed roads I saw their dust clouds long before they got anywhere near me, so I could always pull well off the road and wait for their dust to clear.

The issue of overtaking them never arose because I was driving a Series III. They were all a lot faster than I was.

I just spoke with my mate and he tells me that if its the crash he thinks that truck is carrying fuel. If its not then the same thing happened to a fuel carrier recently.


Cheers Ean