Main Roads Police checking Weight of Vans and Capacity of Towing Vehicle

I am told that the axle loading ETC boys have been doing a check on caravans and tow vehicles in WA and NT,
heavy fines involved
Anyone have any more information
Ron

Is this a plot by Birdman trying to stop us taking too much gold out of WA this season.

Gday


I tend to agree with this as I have seen many vans and trailers that appear overloaded during my travels and also vehicles that look too small and underpowered to be towing such big heavy vans, looking as though they are really struggling.

Towing with a vehicle that is too small or underpowered would give the driver no chance of controlling the towed van in the event of an emergency stop or trying to evade some obsticle on the road, most likely the van will overtake the towing vehicle, flip it over or send it into the bush.

I dont know about other states but as far as I know in WA you can tow any sized van without any addition to your standard car licence , so that means anyone apart from a p plate driver can hook up any sized van and tow it to Darwin if they want, if you have a truck licence it is a different licence to drive rigid trucks than it is to drive articulated ones, I tend to think that to tow vans which have a lot of the characteristics of an articulated vehicle then you should have to undergo lessons and gain an addition to your licence to be able to tow them, also you have to have a commercial drivers medical test as well, I wonder how many retirees towing vans would be able to gain this.

But instead of fining drivers during this blitz the police should be educating them instead, as most of this is derived from ignorance as I would bet that most of the people wouldnt even know what the towing capacity of their vehicle is let alone the weight of their vans loaded to the gunnels, as far as I know the main roads or police have not up until now carried out a campaign to educate drivers and to come up with some clear and concise guidlines, and have allowed it to go on for years unchecked then they are just as guilty for sitting on their hands about the matter.

Over here they have introduced skippers tickets for recreational boat users, while I partially think that it was a bit of a money maker and another source of revenue, I have seen some fools on the water too with no idea or care for anybody else so I guess its has become a necessary evil, perhaps after this blitz when they see what people are really up to they will introduce some form of licence or addition to your current licence to allow you to tow heavy things like vans.

cheers

stayyerAU

Good post stayyer,
A guy I know told me his all up weight of his c'van and 4wd plus gear for 6 months up north (including washing machine) was 7 tonnes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! needles to say he blew a tyre and rolled it.......total write off....cost the insurance company $75,000.00.......the police commented "they thought it was overloaded" but could'nt prove it because the wreckage was scattered far and wide.......The insurance paid out but told him they did'nt want to see him ever again!
A further saga was when the emergency crew came out, he offered them four jerry cans full of fuel.....GET THIS....the guy with the crew said "we don't need it" and opened up the jerry cans and emptied them on the ground(80 litres of diesel).