& yet..If I think about all the caravans parked at houses near me, every one is towed by a suitable towcar & the owners seem to come & go on their trips without problem. Same when you look around campsites. I walk past the campsite near me & I don't recall seeing an outfit that looks obviously unsuitable.
I would think the vast majority of caravanners do take advice & do know what they are doing. Anybody reading & asking questions on ukcs cannot really fail, with the wealth of knowledge there is on here.
hopefully all concerned in the op came out ok,
yes there are a lot of new 'vanner's on the road but just as with new drivers , we've all had to start some where, no-one is born knowing how to tow a caravan or drive at all for that matter.
at the same time even the most experienced of drivers & 'vanners can have an accident.
experience helps us to reduce the chances but they can will and do still happen.
towing is a potentially dangerous pass time but so is driving as a whole.
before judging those involved in the op maybe we should take a step back and think 'there but for the grace of God', after all, none of us are immune to the un-expected event, like a blow out on the 'van for example or an un-expected cross wind, lot's of experienced 'vanners have had this happen with varying degree's of severity regarding outcome
------------- no tin tent outings booked as yet ,just another cruise in Sept' booked so far
Quote: Originally posted by realbusdriver on 13/4/2014
hopefully all concerned in the op came out ok,
yes there are a lot of new 'vanner's on the road but just as with new drivers , we've all had to start some where, no-one is born knowing how to tow a caravan or drive at all for that matter.
at the same time even the most experienced of drivers & 'vanners can have an accident.
experience helps us to reduce the chances but they can will and do still happen.
towing is a potentially dangerous pass time but so is driving as a whole.
before judging those involved in the op maybe we should take a step back and think 'there but for the grace of God', after all, none of us are immune to the un-expected event, like a blow out on the 'van for example or an un-expected cross wind, lot's of experienced 'vanners have had this happen with varying degree's of severity regarding outcome
I agree with all you say but there is one difference, you have to pass a test to drive a car, not so with a caravan.
I also agree we all have to learn but a bit of common sense homework would not go amiss before hooking up for the first time, which obviously is not the case for all.
How many posts have we seen people asking if the caravan they have already purchased is suitable for their car, only to find it could be a potential accident waiting to happen.
To be fair I don't think any of the posts were refering directly about the accident in the OP, not as I read them. They were talking in general about some folks not prepared to do a bit of homework prior to purchasing and towing a caravan as my post was. imo
------------- It is a wise man who has something to say.
It is a fool who has to say something.
In the UK its only drivers who passed test after '97 that have to take any sort of towing test & then only for outfit over 3.5t. As far as I can make out any French driver needs to take a test to tow anything over 500kg & it is apparent how few French reg cars are towing caravans over there.
I think a lot of the problems are caused by stabilisers giving folks a false sense of security. Much better to feel a wag at 50mph and keep the speed down. The stabiliser stops the wag until a certain point is reached then gives up altogether leaving you hopelesly unstable.
The non-uniform speed limits set by fleet operators on their HGVs cause a lot of overtaking and a lot of extra congeston. I feel it would be much better to have a common speed limiter setting and towing speed limit of say 55mph for all HGVs and caravans. This would keep them all in convoy in the slow lane, except perhaps for uphill sections.
Small trailers, say up to 500kg, should be allowed a higher speed limit, perhaps even the national limit of 70mph. This may have a knock on benefit of reducing the number of caravans and hence the number of 4x4s bought to tow them, allowing folks to run small fuel efficient cars reducing CO2 emmisions.
Coming back from Stirling yesterday,this clown was just sitting below 70mph.His van was bouncing as well as the odd sway now and again.As you can guess i put the foot down to pass him as i didnt want to be a witness to an accident.
Quote: Originally posted by jeff juke on 13/4/2014
Coming back from Stirling yesterday,this clown was just sitting below 70mph.His van was bouncing as well as the odd sway now and again.As you can guess i put the foot down to pass him as i didnt want to be a witness to an accident.
I don't know if I'm unique in this (and I suspect not) but how many times have you had some idiot haring up past you and making dangerous manoeuvres just to get past "the caravan". I see at least one example of this nearly every time I tow. I've been driving 31 years now and towing for 8 and I honestly believe that I am a better driver now than before I towed. I wonder how many accidents are a result of some numpty pulling off a stupid manoeuvre causing a car/caravan outfit to have an accident. Just my thoughts but I don't believe that all accidents are due to speeding or badly loaded caravans
Quote: Originally posted by jeff juke on 13/4/2014
Coming back from Stirling yesterday,this clown was just sitting below 70mph.His van was bouncing as well as the odd sway now and again.As you can guess i put the foot down to pass him as i didnt want to be a witness to an accident.
Hi I was travelling back from west wales after a weekend away, we saw a brand new caravan and land rover discovery it overtook me Like I was on stop I was doing the limit all I could think was that that would be dear if we saw the greasy side of either.
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Topic: Jack knifed van
