1770 disaster

[shy guys]

Has merit guys if you love the boat - new trailer $6k + new motor $20k + hull repairs $10k - you get boat back better than ever

Yer mate this would be the best option I'm hoping insurence will say its repairable a lot less hassle and time wasted looking at new boats there are quite a few good ones for sale at the moment

[TREVELLY]

Yer mate this would be the best option I'm hoping insurence will say its repairable a lot less hassle and time wasted looking at new boats there are quite a few good ones for sale at the moment

Guys if it is fixable and you are interested - just send me a PM and I will give you name and number of the guy fixing mine - really good and recommended and not only by me.

I am not being secret squirrel - just not interested in appearing to be throwing in a advert when it may not be welcome.

I will post up all about him soon on my thread about my boat repairs anyway.

Cheers, beers and good luck guys

[EdBerg]

Ok, that's enough truckie bashing guys!
I'm a truck driver, been on the Pacific Hwy for 20 years. There is a very small percentage of truck drivers that are cowboys now. But the number of uncourteous drivers towing caravans/boats/box trailers is staggering. I couldn't tell you how many times per trip that I follow vehicles doing 80-90kph in the single lane that all of a sudden go to warp speed on overtaking lanes. Its incredibly frustrating! And it happens ALL THE TIME.
The reason trucks have started using thge video cams is cover our own butts.
I feel for Shy guys as much as you all, and I'm not commenting on what happened (because I wasn't there) but lay off truckies, because those in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones

A lot of truck drivers are OK but not all, I just came back a few days ago towing my 8mt 3.5t boat from Rosslyn Bay to home at Ningi, and going up the mountain range heading towards Gin Gin there were about 4 times I had to hit the brakes in the left hand lane as I saw a semi in my side mirror in the overtaking lane still trying to beat me up a hill when I was indicating that I was moving back as I was running out of the left lane rapidly and into the single lane, I averaged about 80-90Km going up the hills and about 90-100km/hr on the flats so I didn't slow down the traffic too much, but they still wanted to get in front at all costs. If I hadn't braked to let them pass they would have run straight into the boat taking us and themselves out at the same time.

So not happy, and it is that small percentage of trucks that add to and cause the statistics. I am sure that there are also a lot of accidents caused by the other inconsiderate drivers towing things but I didn't see any on my trip, so can only comment first hand only on the truck drivers.

Ed.

[netmaker]

i reckon it makes a wonderful argument for making the LEFT lane the overtaking one. at least that way those rude bastards who want to overtake at all costs are the ones closest to going off instead of the bloke doing the right thing.

[thelump]

Glad to hear everything is working out Harry. I too have had the same thing happen returning from 1770 a couple of years back although I remained upright. The thing that amazes me is the amount of trucks that must NOT be limited. I can cruise on 100kph easily with my boat in tow and have had trucks overtake me many times. Even travelling on the M1 from Brisbane to Goldy sitting on 110 in cruise control and they still overtake??? Maybe the limiters are easy to over ride?

[TREVELLY]

i reckon it makes a wonderful argument for making the LEFT lane the overtaking one. at least that way those rude bastards who want to overtake at all costs are the ones closest to going off instead of the bloke doing the right thing.

If only you were right netmaker - but I know a girl who was overtaken by a young aggressive guy in the LH lane and when he cut in on her and hit the front of her car she was shunted into oncoming traffic - terrible mess including full face reconstruction - so no way to make LH lane overtaking.

[Dean1]

Bloody hell makes my 'bad' trips to 1770 seem like nothing after seeing this! Glad Insurance come to the party, 10k is nothing when you think of what could have happened. I have to say every time a truck passes me i cringe coz things can go wrong very quickly. Hopefully this Truckie has had a shakeup and learns from this! Cheers..

[FisHard]

Thank you to everyone who has spoken up in defence of the hard working truckies!
Just another couple of comments regarding overtaking lanes.
My truck is well powered and speed limited to 100kph (gps measured). I get overtaken by a truck (who's either removed or tampered with, their speed limiter) about once or twice per month. Considering I do 15-20 000 klms per month, I reckon the cowboy element must be a small percentage of truck drivers.
In the case of the truck trying to overtake on dual lanes, I'm not sure of what the obsession with staying in front of the truck is? If the truck has the speed to be behind you, why not back off for 30 seconds on the overtaking lane and let the "cowboys" go??? Surely that's got to be prefferable to being "run off the road"?? When I'm towing my boat, I have a handheld UHF radio that I use to call up trucks that come up behind me (I tow the boat at abot 90kph). I let them know that I will back off at the next overtaking lane and let them go. Easy, safe and completely stress free. Isn't that what taking our boats out fishing supposed to be about?

[Humdinger]

thanks fishard . i got out of interstate in 07 . went for a drive over xmas this year and i can vouch for how much the industry has changed .
am not rely impressed with the changes (i think the late night driving got more dangerous ) but thats just my opinion . no one talks to anyone .
i actually miss the guys off tap jibbering on the radio all night .
but thats just my opinion

[netmaker]

fishard. i dont think blokes here are anti-truckie. most of us have mates who drive for a living. i dont think there are more a-hole truck drivers statistically than regular drivers either but they can scare the crap out of ya just through sheer size and weight. last year i drove to townsville and back and the best part of my journey was sticking behind a truckie who used his indicators regularly to let me know where the potholes were. i very much appreciated his courtesy as my night vision is less than perfect and it was an awful lot easier following his lights than trying to find my own way. will also add that i felt a lot safer on the highway when speed and shakers were the go. much less chance of an overworked driver falling asleep then. unfortunately a few professional drivers become a bit complacent over time. when was the last time anyone saw a cabbie use an indicator?

[netmaker]

should have added: a cab ride home last year scared the crap outta me and i was pissed as. drove like a race driver regularly 20k's over the limit, last minute hard braking and rapid acceleration. would have felt safer driving myself...

[EdBerg]

Thank you to everyone who has spoken up in defence of the hard working truckies!
In the case of the truck trying to overtake on dual lanes, I'm not sure of what the obsession with staying in front of the truck is? If the truck has the speed to be behind you, why not back off for 30 seconds on the overtaking lane and let the "cowboys" go??? ?

With me it wasn't an obsession to stay in front of any truck, I pulled over to the left lane to let the other faster vehicles overtake, cars, 4WD's or trucks or whateverver but sooner or later, your lane merges with the outside lane and you have don't have a choice and you have to go back to a single lane as you don't have any where else to go, yet these truckers kept on trying to get in front of me when I was indicating that I was merging back as I was running out of room. They should have known better and backed off till the next overtaking lane came up but they kept accellerating. In my view these are not "cowboys" just bloody dangerous and inconsiderate a...holes.

[TheRealAndy]

Ride a motorcycle, and you learn to trust no one. I can second guess 99% of driver behavior on the road now, and for the 1% I cant I just stay away. I have also driven trucks before (not HR though) and you get used to idiots on the road. Does not exempt all truck drivers though, I have seen some morons out there.

BTW, its not illegal to overtake on the left in Queensland (provided there is two lanes).

[fat-buoy]

I agree with letting the cowboy truckies go by... (that is extended to all the tossers on the road whether they are in a B double or a Nissan Micra) My way of thinking is that if they are in front of me it is then up to me to avoid them when they crash.. I am comfortable with my driving skills so would rather that option thank you very much.

The downside of letting the truckie go flying by is the next hill where they have slowed down to 40kph you are often stuck behind them.

Back to the boat .. that is a sad sight to see.. Hope all ends up a distant memory and a good story over a few beers with mates. Good to see everyone is out unhurt... and if the ball joint on the car was nearing letting go it could well have been a saving grace that stopped you from skidding off somewhere else and coming out much worse off.

[PADDLES]

we've recently done the return trip to ayer's rock from beachmere towing the van and yeah, probably 80% of the truckies are very professional, the other 20% however were downright dangerous. the situation that edberg describes earlier happened to us so many times where a truck would use us as his wind break in the left lane of an overtaking zone to pick up speed, only to swing out and pass on the right at the merge to cut us off. the other dangerous manouvre was guys with very wide loads (ie. haultruck chassis that takes up 1.5 lanes none of these poxy town loads) going warp factor head on to us on krap roads with soft verges into spoon drains, you can't pull over because you'd just roll your car, but these snapper heads just ploughed ahead regardless doing 80 or so, all with a police escort too i might add, this is standard procedure in mining country ........... recklessness. again there's some ultra professional truckies out there, but there's also some total cowboys in the industry dragging these good guys down and this is reflected in the safety stats for the state, accidents involving heavy vehicles are up big time.