Thread: Driving dangerous roads

I drove it about 20 years ago(I think '98 or 99) .. easy drive, I don't remember any issues other than corrugations.
I think there was also a single lane bitumen section (maybe near Rabbit Flat) .. a bit vague on that bit, but as always on outback roads .. take it slower than you think feels comfy, will help preserve life/limb/vehcle/fuel/etc.. .. and enjoy the scenery!

Done in my RRC.

Driving roads like that for hours does require concentration and some knowledge of your vehicles handling characteristics.
A campervan with skinny wheels possibly overloaded ( but not necessarily) would be easy to lose control of if it slipped into those ruts.
An inexperienced driver ( esp in Australian roads like this) in a less than ideal vehicle- it is a statistical certainty that this will happen from time to time.
It's no ones fault really...but the Tanami track is far cry from a UK freeway or a Euro autobahn.

Yes, I can't imagine a Wicked campervan being very well suited to a corrugated Outback road. They look dodgy enough on bitumen.

It was a "Wicked" campervan.

Have you ever followed one on a choppy road?
Shocks dead in the water .. may as well be filled with water.
Cheap hire vehicles usually means skimping on some aspects of maintenance, and most of the backpackers that hire them wouldn't know a failed shock if it hit them in the head!

So it's not hard to imagine a clapped out overworked banger, barely any suspension remaining .. on a corrugated dirt road, skipping sideways madly, hit even a medium rut .... does it surprise anyone what happened in the above story?
What's surprising is that it's not more common.

The road itself is Not "dangerous" by any means, Letting inexperianced drivers using inapropriate vehicles to use that road IS "Dangerous"

You are not allowed out there in a wikid van. It's made clear on the rental agreement/handover.

http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/imag...s/aou-2017.jpg .

If they can ignore the rental agreement, they can ignore road signs too. Upping rental age from 21 to 25 would of helped in this case but 25 year olds will get up to same mischief, as will 30 year olds.

Add GPS trackers to rental vehicles and they won't be able to get away with it.

Media report indicates that the the deceased's unfortunate mother said he was a good driver.

It seems that a lot of people don't know the meaning of "slow down" and "refrain from overloading".

If you talk to guys that maintain those roads,grade them,etc,they say once they are graded nice and smooth,more accidents occur because people then drive way too fast.

And the main ones that have the accidents are the overseas tourists.

Its a sort of dam if you do,dam if you don't.