Caravan weights and safety - do you know all about yours?

[Motherhen]

Police in the East Gippsland area will be out in force over the holiday period to educate road users on caravan safety.

As part of the current Operation Roadwise, police in the East Gippsland area will be out in force over the holiday period to educate road users on caravan safety.

Local police, with the assistance of VicRoads and the Sheriff, will set up a site at the Newmerella Rest Stop on Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th January from 9.30am where, amongst other tasks, they will educate travellers about caravan and tow vehicle weights, general safety around towing and how to manage fatigue on long journeys.

Acting Sergeant Graeme Shenton said the objective is not to fine every driver with a caravan that may be overweight or non-compliant with vehicle standards, rather they want to use this opportunity to educate and generate discussion around towing safety and road safety in general. Obviously, if there are any major issues with your registration, road worthiness or if you have any outstanding fines, you can expect a little more than a ‘discussion’.

We also understand representatives from various media outlets, forums, magazines, clubs, blog sites and Facebook Groups will be on site to provide first hand reporting on the operation itself. This open approach will ensure that an ongoing positive discussion about towing safety takes place in both mainstream and social media.

Again, we would encourage travellers not to avoid the area but to take advantage of the opportunity to find out whether or not they are, in fact, legal. It is rare that you can openly discuss towing safety issues with the officers who are actually tasked with enforcing the law. It will certainly be better than some of the advice and opinions shared on forums and social media.

Victoria Police will release a small media piece on the morning of the 4th on their news website and their Facebook page with further details about the Newmerella operation.

When will this take place? On the 4th and 5th of January 2017.

Where will this take place? At Newmerella rest stop. See Map .

Will you be there? If you are caravanning in the area, do take the opportunity to undertake this safety check, and understand more about various aspects of caravanning safety. Your life, and the life of other road users could depend on it.

From Facebook.

Please share original on your Facebook page and on any caravanning groups you belong to.

[Dot]

Hello there MH, that article sounds like a good idea, hope lots of people take the opportunity to learn some important safety issues.

[Motherhen]

I think every state should have someone with the initiative and drive of Sergeant Shenton to get similar happening across the country.

Best wishes for Christmas and the new year to you and yours Dot.

Cheers

MH

[BruceS]

Ban him!
Ban him!
Next he'll want a special license for towing a caravan or even a trailer ....
Guess he got his promotion though?
Sherrif as well? Yeah right....

Please confine these type chats to being on the CF. Gets more moving over here to escape!

[SteveW]

Ban him!
Ban him!
Next he'll want a special license for towing a caravan or even a trailer ....
Guess he got his promotion though?
Sherrif as well? Yeah right....

Please confine these type chats to being on the CF. Gets more moving over here to escape!

Agree that if Vicroads and the Sheriff are there it will be painful for many! - whether they deserve it or not.

[Motherhen]

Just have a read of what the good Cop has said about the caravan licence debate Bruce - best I have read from anyone

[SteveW]

Just have a read of what the good Cop has said about the caravan licence debate Bruce - best I have read from anyone

Where is that? Google didn't find it for me. Had a look at your site - great job.

[JohnM]

https://practicalmotoring.com.au/car-ad ... ow-rating/

This should be compulsory reading for all with caravans, or contemplating towing a van. Though if you can follow the convoluted explanation, that endeavours to explain why the manufacturers are not really guilty of false advertising, or outright lying.
Lets go back to the old system where a vehicle was marked with legal weights , that is maximum axle weights, gross vehicle weights (GVM) and gross combination weights, (GCM), then maybe the users would be able to understand what their actual legal mass would be, and all drive F150s

[T1 Terry]

Does sound a bit like a grace period/education period for what is coming up so the Ï didn't know" nonsense will be no form of defence, not that it ever was I the eyes of the law.
I do think it is a better approach than suddenly acting on laws that have been around for a long time, I think an approach like that only increases the us/them wall rather than a working together approach, but let's see how it goes. Let's face it, there would be a few vans that left the showroom over weight once the accessories were fitted by the dealership, that would then constitute not fit for purpose resulting in the some of the blame returning to where it should land. If the dealer is not the first line of education regarding the legality of the combination leaving their driveway then it should be and they should be made accountable for their actions. If the new owner decides to ignore that advice and signs a waiver acknowledging they do understand their rig/combination will not meet the legal requirements then that will let the dealer off the hook and pass the responsibility onto the person signing the waiver.
Rather than ignoring/avoiding the weight/safety issues it is much better to face the reality and get the rig/combination compliant, the days of simply getting away with it as numbered.

[Motherhen]

Thanks SteveW . Can I send you a PM with the link?

Hi Terry and yes

Rather than ignoring/avoiding the weight/safety issues it is much better to face the reality and get the rig/combination compliant, the days of simply getting away with it as numbered.

This project, while it will not be able to weigh and check hundreds of vans, should help in getting others who have not thought about it to be more cautious with their weights and packing. On my Facebook page alone, in half a day we have had almost 19,000 people reached. In addition the posts on forums are getting a good readership, and there are separate posts on Facebook pages probably gaining similar spread to mine. Thanks to all who share these posts.

Sad to say that disclaimers like that carry little weight in a court of law.