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Stika

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Well im all for people who go away with caravans and the majority of them I get along with fine.

But the other day I was going down to orbost and every single caravan I tried to pass was sitting hard on the right hand lane...

Now you will say what do I know? Well I drive a truck for a living so every time I can see a car wants to pass me I move over as close to the left line as I can get.

Anyone else have this recently?
 
It's not just caravans. It's everyone who doesn't give a rats ass about "Keep Left Unless Overtaking". It's everyone who doesn't want someone else in front, regardless of how fast they're going or what they're doing to the traffic.

I know when I'm towing my caravan other cars will do everything they can to not only get past me, but to hold me off on the left side so that I have to hit the brakes up a hill as the overtaking lane ends. That's super annoying, and to be quite honest I can understand why some 'vanners are doing it.

I suspect it's also the smart-asses that sit on 80km/h in a 100km/h zone where there's a single lane, but as soon as there's an overtaking lane they speed up to 110km/h. I've had a number of these assholes actually get past the end of the overtaking area in front of me and actively hit the brakes (note: I hadn't even seen them before, maybe they have a thing against caravans too) which just further annoys.

Eventually someone's going to mount AGM65s on their car and escalate this. I wanna be there to see it, that'd be so cool!
 
I think the biggest issue is noone seems to give a rats about keeping left as there are no repercussions .Even in town the amount of newer drivers that just happily sit in the right lane in a 90 or 100 zone and pedal along at 80.
Its a point on your license if you ever got booked but honestly has anyone ever been booked for it?Doubt it very much
I will tolerate it for a while but usually its back a few gears and blast past them .Always funny if they flash me .I just flash them back and drive off at the speed limit.
 
If its bad i hit the high beams a few times and see if they figure it out, people don't really understand the dangers of what they are forcing drivers to do, overtaking on the left is a lot more dangerous as you don't expect it (well i don't) as like most of you i was taught to travel on the left unless i am actually overtaking. it would be very easy to merge back to the left lane to pull off a highway and not see someone trying to over take in that lane.
i would be guessing but i think its causes a lot more accidents on the highway then people think, especially with a vehicle that is longer then usual like towing a caravan
 
A trip back from QLD last year nearly ended in a disaster ,when I was caught 5 cars back from a car towing a van ,time after time every time we came to an over taking lane the bloke in the van sped up and no one got to get past, I was driving a Gt diesel golf so when after 4 over taking lanes were passed I waited till the next and was ready to pull out and accelerate , I passed the first 4 cars but as I was passing the car caught behind the van ,he pulled out I had to pull to the right crossing the double line ,lucky for me there no on coming cars ,I blasted my horn but the driver just looked straight ahead, This goose did not check his mirror ,if he had of he would of seen a VW golf next to him , Lucky my misses was asleep other wise I would of never heard the end of it ??
 
Caravans

I tow a caravan and always stay in the left lane so that everyone can get past, I always maintain my highway speed at 85 - 90 in overtaking lanes so everyone can get past with ease.
 
I suspect it's also the smart-asses that sit on 80km/h in a 100km/h zone where there's a single lane, but as soon as there's an overtaking lane they speed up to 110km/h. I've had a number of these assholes actually get past the end of the overtaking area in front of me and actively hit the brakes (note: I hadn't even seen them before, maybe they have a thing against caravans too) which just further annoys.

Eventually someone's going to mount AGM65s on their car and escalate this. I wanna be there to see it, that'd be so cool!

Oh how I hate that! I drive a coach part-time. There is nothing more frustrating when you are in a speed limited vehicle to try and get around these clowns. I do have a theory tho. I suspect there don't even know there doing so. In fact I would go as far to say they don't even know they're driving. The worst offenders here of this are tourist and it boils down to confidence. There terrified on a single lane road not knowing what is a ahead as soon as it opens up to double lanes it's like, oh this is good, away we go. They are totally oblivious they have 10 to 20 vehicles lined up behind them, getting angry. The things I see here are disturbing. As it turns out, generally it's not the tourist getting killed but the locals. They get so frustrated they take an unnecessary risks and bang! It's all over. The worst of the worst offenders are the Chinese on hols (don't get me wrong I have nothing against Chinese people per se. There a happy happy lot. In fact my Wife is Chinese descent) but they come here on hols, good on them but with a paper license, no international license, little driving experience and no experience at all of driving on open roads. Then the Rental car companies rent them a vehicle. I can't drive in China without an government authorized Chinese guide. Work that out. Anyway little rant over.
 
fairly common with newbie drivers or new to towing trailers.
what makes matter worse is caravans are a typically wider than the tow vehicle. as its difficult for them to line up the caravan to the left side of the rode they are lining it up to the right hand side, hence tend to sit hard on the right.
 
I really dont mind sitting behind some people, Why make it hard on your self let someone else be the wind break haha
Obviously they will slow down on hills so you move on forward and find another one :)

it made my trip up to bourke rather boring but saved me a heap of fuel and Less bugs, I dont know if the truckies liked it or not thou
 
On the other side of the coin, a few months ago I was towing our van toward Atherton from Ravenshoe. Winding road with no passing lanes and rogue truckie gets on the CB to anybody who would listen, abusing the caravan that was holding him up.

He was a few vehicles back so I am not sure whether he saw the Ch40 sign on the back of the van but went quite when I politely asked him where he suggest I pull over.

I caught up to a car towing a camper trailer. Not sure if he realised that there was another vehicle in front which was actually slowing me down but as soon as I passed a road heading to another town, the abuse started again. No way was I going to turn off to a destination unknown, with the probability of having no hope of turning around for who knows how long, just for the benefit of some rude pri(k.

Well my faith in the average motorist was restored when a vehicle behind came in to battle. Whether the truckie turned off the road because the other motorist informed him that he had his rego number or whether he had arrived at his destination, I am not sure, but after travelling thousands of ks and coming across heaps of courteous truckies and drivers of all descriptions, realise there will always be some D heads out there.
 
I actually ran into a pair of truckers that started out like twats but in the end were nice guys. I was cruising to Melbourne (without the van, just a quick overnighter) and this pair of white semis lodged in behind me. Multiple lanes, I was on cruise control @ 2,000rpm (about 95km/h) and I just kept to myself. They stayed there for some time and I didn't know why ... for a little while.

Anyway, Roy says to Chris "I dunno about passing this ute, probably one of those RTA guys he's got a big white antenna, but he's pissing me off going slow like that"

Chris didn't respond straight away, so I did. "I'm cruising at 2,000rpm mate, and I'm not the RTA. Just go around me!"

That was when Chris chuckled and called Roy a twat. Roy responded with "Haha ok mate, we're cruising at 1,700rpm, have a nice day!" and they went past me. Chris continued to jibe at Roy about the antenna for quite some km, even when they were out of visual range they were still hammering at each other over it. "Panic merchant", "Pussy" and other endearing terms filled the air waves until they were far enough in front that their signal faded out.
 
Truth is that I think most people can not overtake. Time and time again I see them pull out, then apply the accelerator. Really impressive when some crawling bozo pops into your lane in front of you. I prefer to open a gap, then accelerate into the gap and then flip out and around. Mostly it is over and done before any hero has time to react.

I agree with the comment about some caravan towing vehicles powering up the hills. I can not figure that one out as it must really screw the fuel economy and have the engine screaming.

It was interesting on Christmas Day coming back into Sydney late at night in the heavy rain. We were just taking it easy around 90 and even though there was dual lanes, we were always collecting a chain of cars sniffing our arse (Red light followers?). Thankfully heroes came barrelling through took them away regularly.
 
I tow a caravan and usually sit at around 95k...which here in WA gives a motorist that wants to pass a buffer of 15 in our 110 zones to do so. What I and a lot of other caravaners hate is the motorists that like to sit right on my rear and not pass thus making us look like a mobile chicane just holding up traffic as anybody that actually wants to go by has more work to do.

I always slow down in the overtaking zones and allow as many past as I see behind....not usually many. But I have actually had people come and yell at me for going too slow....what the stupid jerks dont know is Im only 5k under my legal limit.
 
But I have actually had people come and yell at me for going too slow....what the stupid jerks dont know is Im only 5k under my legal limit.

Whoa, wait a minute please.

You cannot hope to apply common sense and logic to a good ol' fashion raving lunatic.

If they're sitting behind you, and they're angry about it, they don't care - you could be Joseph driving Mary to the bloody manger and someone'll get annoyed at you.

Bloody donkeys! Slow asses!
 
I personally think that you should have to sit a test to be able to tow any form of trailer.
It should be marked on your australian issued licence. It might be a bit extreme but then there can be no excuses for ignorance.
Oh and yeah I know it would piss a lot of people off, but.....
I like getting to my destinations safe and sound.
Happy travels.
 
With the increasing number of vans and trailers on the road, there may be some merit about a specific driver test and licence endorsement in order to tow. This has been suggested by some, for quite some time now.

It would be interesting to read first hand accounts of what the offending drivers had done to jeopardise the safety of other road users.
 
Hmm. not a fan of vehicle sitting on a 95. In a heavy vehicle if have someone towing a van or sitting on this speed I find it very difficult to overtake being speed limited. If there doing 90 or less, I'm patient and will get around them in time.
 
The 95 is fine as long as they give you a chance to pass when an opportunity opens up. I hate the pricks that won't/ don't use their mirrors and cruise along in their own little world.
 
Hmm. not a fan of vehicle sitting on a 95.

you have to remember that with everyones speedo's do not read the same. he could be doing 100km or 90km. people getting annoyed over such a minor insufficient thing is what causes most of the problems on the road.

worry about the ones that do 30km/h or the ones that do 70km/h then 120km/h up the passing lane.
 

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