Hire campers

Submitted: Sunday, Nov 26, 2017 at 21:56
ThreadID: 135917 Views:3492 Replies:8 FollowUps:21
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I'm on kangaroo island SA at present & twice have been nearly taken out by a hire motor home travelling on the wrong side of the road or they just can not handle the size of the vehicle & drift all over the place
They have to make it tougher to hire
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Reply By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Sunday, Nov 26, 2017 at 22:04

Sunday, Nov 26, 2017 at 22:04
Hi Duck

Yes it is a problem over on KI as it is a hot spot for many overseas visitors and you must keep on the bal all the time.

A few years ago, there was a fatality just out of Penneshaw when a motorhome driven but some Europens was travelling on the wrong side of the road and head on into a local vehicle.



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Stephen
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Follow Up By: Member - David M (SA) - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 08:17

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 08:17
Tourist or not, driving on KI dirt roads is like driving on marbles. Very easy to lose it on a bend.
Dave.
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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 14:14

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 14:14
Hi Dave

The incident that I was referring to was on the main highway just as you climb out of Penneshaw on the bitumen.

From memory they were 2 French nationals and had only been Australia for a very short time before the accident.

As for the dirt roads, I found them no issue as long as you drive to the conditions.




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Follow Up By: duck - Tuesday, Nov 28, 2017 at 20:55

Tuesday, Nov 28, 2017 at 20:55
I agree just drive to the conditions

I'm driving a large 4x4 camper 6.5 ton & the roads are what they are so drive to the conditions & after 8 days I drove on some of there worst
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Follow Up By: Nacho - Wednesday, Nov 29, 2017 at 14:44

Wednesday, Nov 29, 2017 at 14:44
Yep same problem in Europe but in reverse....first world problem lol.
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Reply By: Les - PK Ranger - Sunday, Nov 26, 2017 at 22:47

Sunday, Nov 26, 2017 at 22:47
It's a major issue everywhere now when travelling the highways, not often seen, but enough spasmodically to know it is an increasing problem.
Ie, if you happen to see this on a road trip a couple of times, you're only passing them and it continues occasionally afterwards when they forget where they are driving.
Even if rarely that one driver is like playing Russian roulette with 2 tonnes.

Not much you can do, habit, like indicators and wipers on Euro designed cars, you get used to it and it's a problem if / when you drive other certain makes.

One time I came up behind and followed a rental car that was driving on the right hand side of the road through the Adelaide Hills.
On a winding, crested road.
At night.

Scared the heck out of me as I laid on the horn for a couple of km.
They completely ignored the horn blowing, in the end it was chance we they came to a car travelling the other way on a straight section, and it ended ok with them weaving back into the left lane in time.
Had it been a bend or crest, this was an 80k zone and could have been a fatal accident.
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Reply By: nickb - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 04:06

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 04:06
About ten years ago I was travelling towards Adelaide, about 5km north of Laura. It was lightly drizzling and I was doing 100 in a 110 zone. I came round a blind left hand bend and found a German tourist coming towards me in my lane. He was driving his temporarily imported Merc G-wagon (the ute version and left hand drive). No time to stop, I just hit the brakes and swerved left onto the road verge. Unfortunately his reaction was to serve right (as he would in Germany). We collided almost head on, one of my dogs died. We got out of it relatively unscathed ( cracked sternum, broken toe, lots of bruises), they were worse off but nothing too serious.

He told the police that he had just finished lunch, had one beer and by habit drove the next five minutes on the wrong side of the road. We were the first car he came across.

He didn’t need to do anything to get his international licence, just paid the fee. Could happen to anyone though, this time we were lucky. He wasn’t driving recklessly or speeding, sometimes habits take over without you thinking about them.
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Follow Up By: Les - PK Ranger - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 08:33

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 08:33
Exactly the almost worse case scenario Nick . . . almost no fatality thankfully !
All Govco really do is hand out permits and put up "We drive on the left hand side of the road in Australia" signs in various languages near tourist hotspots . . . but tourists also drive main highways, and yet to see a sign etc on the Sturt, Dukes, or even the Pacific Hwys.
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Follow Up By: Hoyks - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 11:20

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 11:20
I landed in the US, stepped off a plane after 32 hrs in transit only to be handed the keys to a Dodge Ram dual cab and asked to drive through Vegas at rush hour.

No international licence fee required (Qld licence is fine in the USofA), no 'We drive on the Right here' stickers, just a credit card and away you go son.

3 weeks there and I had no issues (suprisingly). It wasn't until the day after I got home, the wife dropped in at Bunnings and I went to move the car that I found myself on the wrong side of the road in the carpark.
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Follow Up By: Candace S. - Saturday, Dec 02, 2017 at 14:43

Saturday, Dec 02, 2017 at 14:43
Hoyks... actually that is not surprising to me. My personal experience with switching sides was that it's easiest if you can drive in some traffic. You just kind of follow the others around LOL.

On the other hand, if you go someplace where there's almost no other traffic to cue off, it's easier to find yourself driving on the side you're accustomed to.
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Reply By: Member - Boobook - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 06:26

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 06:26
Maybe we should ban tourists. Who needs them? LOL.
AnswerID: 615234

Follow Up By: flipje - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 07:05

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 07:05
This is a stupld comment. Not funny at all
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Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Tuesday, Nov 28, 2017 at 06:47

Tuesday, Nov 28, 2017 at 06:47
It probably was flipje.

My point is that Australia is part of the international drivers licence group. People can land here and hire a car, and we can do the same just about anywhere overseas just as easily. As someone who uses that regularly I can say that it's a hard habit to break. It's a fact of life due to us being in a minority with RHD.

While it's a problem, moaning on an internet forum does nothing to fix it. In reality it's probably an insignificant problem, especially if you compare it to drink driving or say elderly people driving.

You can't ban everything, though governments want to lately, especially left wing goodie goodies.
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Reply By: Member - shane r1 - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 07:28

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 07:28
There’s no easy answer to this problem.
I’ve driven overseas 3 times, it’s really only a recommendation to go to the RAA or relevant association .And pay a few dollars for an international permit (just them verifying they have sighted your license and noted the classes)
So no different for us driving on the wrong side. Like all driving you’ve got to be forever diligent!
There’s plenty of bad driving here by locals to , but at least most are on the correct side of the road.
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Reply By: Baz - The Landy - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 07:41

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 07:41
My starting point every time I head down the driveway and out the front-gates is that everyone on the road beyond the front-gates is trying to kill me...

That mindset "hones" my focus onto the task at hand.

But ultimately the situation described here is a risk we all face.

Note to self; be even more vigilant in known tourist areas.

Good luck out there,

Cheers, Baz - The Landy



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Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 08:04

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 08:04
Exactly Baz.

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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 09:51

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 09:51
"everyone on the road beyond the front-gates is trying to kill me"

Yes, my ex-wife is still after me...

Cheers
Greg

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Follow Up By: Baz - The Landy - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 16:33

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 16:33
Greg, I'm still having a chuckle (hope that is okay)...!

Possibly even more dangerous than foreign tourists' on the wrong side of the road.

Cheers, Baz
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Reply By: Michael H9 - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 08:03

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 08:03
I wonder why the British and all their colonies decided to drive on the left hand side of the road, when most of the rest of the world drives on the right? It has caused a massive amount of problems that are now too hard to correct. I've driven a lot overseas and it is very easy to temporarily become disoriented. A big one is pulling out from either a T intersection or a driveway and checking for traffic in the wrong direction. In Australia we look right to check the road is clear, overseas it's left. There have been quite a number of fatalities from os tourists pulling out onto main roads after checking for traffic in the wrong direction.
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Follow Up By: Gramps - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 10:11

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 10:11
"A big one is pulling out from either a T intersection or a driveway and checking for traffic in the wrong direction. "

If drivers only look in one direction perhaps they should rethink their competence to operate a vehicle.

Regards
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Follow Up By: Hoyks - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 11:26

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 11:26
I've seen it with people just stepping off the kerb to cross the road.
Its a bit hard to break 30+ years of conditioning that vehicles will be coming from your right.
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 11:58

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 11:58
.
Totally agree Gramps.
On the Duke's Hwy I started to pass a truck on a long straight and clear stretch.
Suddenly a farmer's ute pulled out from a paddock and turned left directly in front of me. All I could do is stand on the brakes until the truck pulled ahead to be able to get back to the left just in time.
Ever since, I get nervous when overtaking on a country road with scrub verges.
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Follow Up By: Michael H9 - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 12:05

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 12:05
I've noticed that most people tend to give the more dangerous side precedence, especially the case when they aren't actually crossing any lanes of traffic, just turning left into the closest lane. Obviously, everyone should be looking in every direction, but sometimes they have a lapse and kill themselves as well as others. It's all very well to say people should rethink their competence, but we live in the real world where accidents happen.
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 13:39

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 13:39
.
Michael, during any industrial safety training you would be told that.... "Accidents don’t just happen. They are caused. And the cause is almost always that some person or persons fell down on the job somewhere along the line."

To believe that accidents "just happen" is to adopt a frame of mind such that you take a fatalistic attitude toward your own, and other's, health and safety. It could result in your living less time in this "real world".

Cheers
Allan

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Follow Up By: Michael H9 - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 13:41

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 13:41
No worries, the problem of accidents is solved then.
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Follow Up By: Dean K3 - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 16:53

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 16:53
Why do poms and its colonies drive of left hand side of road (ie rhd vehicle)

All to do with ergonomics surprisingly enough, majority of people are right handed , a smaller part are left handed and a even smaller section are truly ambidextrous.

As we are right handed, going back to Elizabethan time or before was common to carry a sword or firearm in right hand so thus to effectively operate said items its better to have your opponent on the right hand side on your "natural side" so thus why poms ride/drive on left.

To be honest I'd be stuffed to know how I'd manage a gear stick on my rhs apart from a forklift hydraulic levers
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Follow Up By: Michael H9 - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 18:25

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 18:25
It is surprising how quickly you adapt. The sticking points are giving preference to checking on the left rather than the right, looking into your rear view mirror on the upper right rather than the left, and going around roundabouts anti-clockwise instead of clockwise. Blinkers on the wrong side are an issue for people who only drive Jap cars but changing gears right handed is not really a problem.
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Follow Up By: Candace S. - Saturday, Dec 02, 2017 at 14:51

Saturday, Dec 02, 2017 at 14:51
As a yank learning to drive (a Honda) in Japan, this was my experience: After about 25 years of doing it one way, it was challenging to get comfortable driving on the "wrong" side of the road. But the reversed turn signal and windshield wiper stalks were also a challenge. I made quite a few turns without a turn signal flashing, but with my windshield wipers going, LOL
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Reply By: Dean K3 - Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 17:04

Monday, Nov 27, 2017 at 17:04
Duck,

Sadly not just hire cars that travel on wrong side of road, I've had a few locals on wrong side as they in a rush to get pass several triple road trains to get to minesite on time.

Was some footage the other day on FB posted by a truckie up Pt Hedland way mine spec hire cruiser wagon double white lines blind left hand corner zero F**** given.

Britz did do a driver training video number of years ago, know this as mate of mine was the producer of the video -he is a rally driver professional driver instructor. Not sure if its still used today.

Until when we go overseas and must pass a drivers licence test and practical test higher than what is required to occur in Australia I doubt making it harder to hire a vehicle will occur here.

Simple reason as many European drivers are supposed to be taught alot more than we ever have been, however we have very different road hazards they aren't so likely to encounter.

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