How do you secure your tarp on your trailer or roof rack?

An axe knot is the most secure

The rope also had to secure the tarp in place, not just to stop it flapping. It could have come adrift into oncoming or following traffic, creating a hazard. If you get a chance to read the rules, you will find that it is madness gone madderer. You can't just chuck a bale of hay on the back of the ute anymore. It has to be secured by an approved tie down or an approved rope. The approved securing mechanism must also be able to keep the load secured in the event of G forces created in a sudden stop. The approved securing device must also only be used by someone trained in the correct procedures to secure said load. If I get a courier to drop something off at my place and he hasn't secured the load properly and causes an accident, I am partly responsible if I didn't check with the courier company to make sure he was trained. The fines are rather large.

I am glad I retired last week, don't have to worry about the ladders on the back of the truck anymore.

Dmaxer
What a croc. Where does one train and get credentials to be 'trained in correct procedures to secure a load with an approved securing device"

CSeaJay

I am not sure of where, but you should have a read of the rules

The ratchet strap has to be certified to suit the load you are carrying

Precious few - if any - of the ones I have seen on sale have any sign of being certified for anything. A manufacturers' self-assigned rating, yes, but that's about as good as a politician's promise.

philw, you have got the picture. We may as well ban all motorised vehicles as well. Damn them powers that be. Probably still have the same rules for a horse and cart.

I agree with you there Alan S, Max Trenordens wife would probably still be alive today if the load had been properly secured. However, you need to read the new regulations to understand why they are so completely over the top. This is worksafe gone mad. I often work on minesites, so I know about safety.

Everyone should read the new regulations before commenting on this topic. They are draconian.

Look at the numbers, and this is knee-jerk at its finest!
How many accidents of this type have actually occurred causing any injury at all?
Then look at the number of millions of vehicle km traveled and tell me that there's any more than a miniscule risk of this type of accident causing an injury.

Oh, and intelligent people, Alan, recognise that the people injured in such accidents were not "trying for a darwin award" but were innocent victims.

"Years ago", a load came adrift on a curve and caused no deaths - irrelevant. The same corner claimed 3 lives in an unspecified type of accident - irrelevant.

John at
Not the victims trying for darwin awards, but those tying stuff on with scant regard for the implications.

As for irrelevant, maybe , maybe not, but remember most people impacted by unsecured loads are innocent.

I for one, am thoroughly sick of unsecured loads creating havoc on our roads when they fall off.
The new regulations are merely Govt knee-jerk reaction to regular instances of unsecured/improperly secured loads coming adrift and causing accidents.
If people took more care and exercised some skills and intelligence, the harsher attitudes from authorities would not have been brought into regular use.

Just on regular jaunts around W.A., I have come across the following on the highways ...

Star pickets
Gluts from truck trays
Sheet of steel
Tradies equipment and tools
Paint
Oil and oil drums
Bales of hay
Chunks of timber
Large bolts and chunks of steel
An entire spare wheel carrier frame from a truck or semi-trailer
And I've even seen an ENTIRE HOUSE dropped onto the centre median strip of the Roe Hwy - when the inadequate chains holding it snapped, and the house slid straight off the low-loader, and landed on the median strip as the truck rounded the corner from the Gt Eastern Hwy bypass road ...

On the Mitchell Freeway about 18 mths ago, a motorcyclist was killed when a tradie lost a poorly-secured wheelbarrow from his ute.
Quite a number of years ago, a bus driver was killed instantly just East of Merredin when a loader bucket fell off an East-West semi as he was passing it on a curve (truck going the opposite direction).
The bus driver collected the loader bucket smack-on in the face. It was a miracle no bus passengers were injured, it could have been another Grafton.

I have no problem with transport officers and police being harsh on improperly secured, or poorly-secured, or insecure loads.
AFAIC, all drivers should be made to pass load-tying practical and knowledge tests if they want to drive a ute or a commercial vehicle, or tow a trailer.

The old days of, "She'll be right", should be put well behind us. It's all about taking responsibility for your actions, that potentially endanger other road users.

Cheers, Ron.

When I was a young fella I lived across the road from a Western Transport Depot in St. George and watched the trucks come in and load wool onto semi trailers to go to the East. All tied down with hemp type ropes using a Sheepshank knot. (there may be other names for this knot)
After a good many years they changed to nylon type ropes. Many a time did I see the guys land on their ass when pulling them down tight.
The slippery rope will not hold a knot as firm as hemp rope would.

Ratchet straps are all the go now as they as so much easier to use.

Cheers