Pete Jackman (SA) posted:

I agree about the "accident waiting to happen",

Two weeks ago we were at Mt Chambers Gorge camped for the evening on a day that had topped 34º. A young foreign couple came over and introduced themselves. They had hired a Hyundai Getz to travel the Northern Flinders as part of their tour of Oz.

No recovery gear, hardly any water, tourist map only. They had bumped their little car down a track that while not marked 4WD only, was very marginal for their vehicle. They had only stopped when they couldn't get any further. The far side of the camping area where we had settled in was not accessable to their car.

We were there for 24 hours and only saw them and one other vehicle. The next day on the way to the Gammons we didn't meet anyone.

So if they broke something in their little car (or even had 2 punctures!) down a side track on one of the hotter days later in the week they would have been dead in 48 hours unless they got lucky.

But you can't blame the hire car company for that one - Getz's are not the weapon of choice for outback travel.

Pete

Madfisher posted:

Good day Pete,
A lot of tourist are also very vague where they intent taking the vehicle. We had a lass who hired a prado, told us she wanted to see the local sites like Hill end etc but instead took it to lake Eyre.We had to spend $2000 in repairs to the verhicle when she returned.
Cheers Pete

Member - Mike DID posted:

And most people are ignorant of the fact that any hire-care insurance is null and void once they leave the bitumen - unless the rental agreement specifically allows driving on dirt roads.

OREJAP posted:

I have seen tourists in hired 4WD driving in various locations in our vast land without any knowledge about how to drive the vehicle & without any recovery gear. Fraser Island a good example. Sometimes in life we make decisions which can & have the propensity for tragic results. Let's hope some lessons are learnt from this tragedy.

Madfisher posted:

You could provide all necessary recovery gear, but after a few hires it would all be gone. We are forever buying hand trolleys for our pantechs, because people do not return them. Mind you we should be charging $75 deposit, then they would all come back.
CXheers Pete

Member - Timbo posted:

John and Val, by the time the hire car company starts handing out various information packs for this, that and the other, how much of it do you think actually gets read, especially by tourists who want a to go sightseeing, not spend half their holidau reading volumes of legally-non-binding instructions all appended by pages of "don't blame us if it goes bad" disclaimers - and especially if english is a second language for them?
Even having warning stickers everywhere for too many mundane things begin to fade into the background 'noise' - how many of us have hired a car and driven off without reading all the airbag warnings on the sunvisor?!
As was also said in the original post, the couple had the 'Desert Parks Pass' info pack which gave information about staying with the vehicle etc.

Madfisher, isn't that why hire car companies always take the credit card imprint for the potential $2,000+ insurance excess? Doesn't it cover damage, accessories not returned with the vehicle or fuel not refilled etc.?

Pete Jackman (SA) posted:

True Timbo, but how about a big sticker somewhere on the dash that says:

"If in trouble stay with the vehicle"

The same line is in red on all the remote area warning signs you see everywhere - and was back then in 1998 as well.

If they had stuck with their bus Caroline would still be with us.

It was tragic however you look at it.

Pete

Member - Timbo posted:

I agree Pete, it's tragic. And I agree that we should take steps try to reduce the risk of it happening again - I'm just not convinced warning stickers achieve a lot apart from protecting the hide of the hire company.

I think since that incident, EPIRBs have been much more often included with the hire of vehicles in remote areas - I suggest this is probably much more effective.

It seems one of the issues was that they thought no one would find them, an EPIRB lets people know where you are and that you need assistance. Secondly, people often ignore warnings:
* if they think their circumstances are an exception
* if they have already tried that and been unsuccessful (ie. they waited 2 days before setting off)
* if they think they know better than the warnings that were posted for the 'lowest common denominator' - how many of us have disregarded warnings thinking "It's okay, I know the risks and I'll be careful. The warning is for people who don't know what they're doing..."

Madfisher posted:

Tim in regard to trolleys, quite often we only notice they are missing when we go to sweep the back out, standard reply is it was not their when we got the truck. The prado needed a new windsreen and the hole front re sprayed. Looked as though she was trasvelling very close in convoy and the vehicle got sand blasted. Boss never charged her,windsreen was fair wear and tear.
Cheers Pete

Member - Timbo posted:

Understand Madfisher, rental agreements always seem so one-sided in favour of the rental company (at least from the perspective of the renter!) but I suspect a lot of people must really abuse rental cars.

Getting a bit OT, but I'd have thought the trolleys etc. would be listed on the rental agreement and before taking the truck, the renter signs the document that says it's included (just like how you have to agree all the scratches/chips etc. before you drive away, so you can't say "that was already there" if it's not listed on the agreement).

Pete Jackman (SA) posted:

Yes, it doesn't take long to get into trouble in the heat. See the videos about the tragedy in my reply below.

Regards

Pete

Pete Jackman (SA) posted:

Whoops that didn't work, youtube have blocked embedding on those vids

Here are links that work:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Cheers

Pete

Richard Kovac posted:

Pete

They where good, funny how the links work now..

Cheers

Richard

Member - Timbo posted:

The only problem is: how do ANY of us get experience?!

BTW: aside from the issue of tyre pressures, it's also not really a good time of year to be out in those areas (especially if you're from a part of the world where they send all the students home because it's too hot when the temperature reaches 28°C!). The info suggests a shade temperature of 40°C but I'd be surprised if it wasn't 50°C or more out there in late December. Had they been there at a cooler time of year, there also would have been many more travellers in the area - they probably would have waited half a day.

Rob! posted:

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

So in this tragic situation one person is dead; the other is wiser.

The Landy posted:

"often people die with water and shelter nearby because they simply panic or let their egos overtake common sense."

....the Burke and Wills story is an example of what you are talking about.

It is a timely reminder...

Cheers