Two Victorian men killed in 4WD crash

In S.E. Qld there have been 3 kids killed in the last fortnight.
Two of them, in separate incidents, were reversed over by their father in a 4wd in their driveway.
The third was a tow-truck driver in Toowoomba who didn't see his son
when he dropped him off at school.

We need to be supremely careful in these things we drive.

Moz

Guy’s..maybe we should get Dave & Michelle to start and ExlporOz "Death by 4WD Page" - Is this cut and paste news reporting necessary? Should we post all the 4WD accidents that occur every day to keep us alert... Don’t think so. We get enough from other sources to keep us on our toes. If there was some related technical 4WD issue involved in the accident state that (and forward it on to Scrubby whats his face)..if its just the morbid details forget about it.
IMHO
Greg

As a paramedic I attend accidents every other day of the week, and at face value this is not an unusual incident. I also work in a region of Victoria known to have one of the highest incidences of road trauma in the state.

I have been to more fatalities involving P platers, motorcyclists and car drivers doing excessive speeds or dumb things, disobeying traffic control signs or signals or just plain not paying attention. I have attended many accidents involving 4wd vehicles in which the occupants came out better for being in that vehicle, especially in late model ones with safety features not found in older 4wds.

There is no doubt that gross vehicle mass played a part in the outcome of some of those incidents and that other vehicles came off worse. But every vehicle I've attended, 4wd's included that have been hit by trucks have come off worse too and I don't see anyone on tele belting truck drivers for driving trucks. (They roll over too.)

Drivers of all sorts of vehicles get involved in these sorts of incidents all the time.

I don't see the point in these sorts of posts, nor in members of this web site giving the media any more amunition.

If it was a Tarago, L300 or other people mover which can also display similar handling characteristics would anyone have bothered to post or comment? I doubt it.

My 2 cents worth, I don't really care and would prefer not to see it here. I own one, I do use it off road and I don't care if it's agressive. I'm not an agressive driver, I have been trained in and firmly believe everyone should be trained in low risk driving strategies (rather than defensive driving) and I'm more likely to be involved in an accident of someone elses causing.

Dave

I agree that we should be made aware of the details of how accidents occur. That is the only way we can learn. See how seriously air crashes are investigated compared with road traffic accidents.
We have grossly inadequate driver education (eg kids start driving without ever having been taught how to slam on the brakes!).
Accidents are reported in the media with euphemisms like 'a vehicle left the road' in stead of ' the vehicle was travelling at 110 around a bend and hit the soft shoulder, fish tailed and over-corrected, rolled, throwing unseatbelted bodies on to the road, and the driver had his head smashed open against the B pillar'.
The media sensationalise incidents involving 4WDs.
The police and state governments are more interested in revenue than road safety and come up with cliches like 'speed kills' (right- if we all travelled at 0 kph the road toll would drop dramatically) to justify the proliferation of speed cameras in the least appropriate places.
So I reckon we (4 wheel drivers) should start to take some responsibility for our own safety and at least report and discuss serious accidents involving 4WDs. I like the idea of an accident reporting section on Explor Oz - not just rehashing media guff, bur serious reporting and analysis of what occurred so we can all learn from it before we have to learn the hard way.
Someone said that experience is the thing you get just after you needed it - maybe learning from others' experiences might help to avoid the same pitfalls.

Hi Everyone,

As Moz said in his reply there has been a spate of reversing fatailites here in South East QLD over recent weeks, two of which involved 4x4's. This has been getting a lot of coverage in the media and as is the norm, "the vehicle" is getting the blame.

These incidents are outright tragedies and as a community we all should be concerned and trying to help in any small way we can to reducing them. It is important to note that they are outright accidents and despite all the care and attention we apply when we drive, one minor lapse in concentration can lead to something like this happening. I like one of the other replies to this letter am a paramedic with 23 years in the job and have seen things at times I still have nightmares about but I tell you what they always give me a healthy reminder to try and do the right thing when I am driving. I agree that it's a bit gruesome to see this information all the time but we all could do with a subtle reminder as well.

How do we reduce this from happening? There are some solutions and I think these could include things such as to encourage better driver education at the youngest possible age as I know here in Queensland it is a bit lacking, and to ensure that people driving large vehicles are capable to do so safely.

As an example of this last point I will share a brief work story with you all. I recently went to a job where an elderly gent who was extremely short was involved in a bad crash in his 100 series cruiser. When we arrived he was trapped in the vehicle. Airbags etc had deployed and the guy had only minor injuries. The thing that amazed me was that he was sitting on a sort of booster cushion and he had the seat adjusted up as close to the wheel as he could and he could still not clearly see over the wheel. This man definitely initiated the accident and by his own admission when we had him in the back of the ambulance he told us that his new car was just too big for him but that as his retirment present he always promised himself a cruiser. That present came at a huge cost for one young girl who was in the car he hit as she has suffered a severe spinal injury as a result. This got me thinking that maybe if this man was in a smaller sized 4x4 he may have been able to drive with better visibility etc.

I still believe however that the group that really hurt us is that small minority of 4x4 drivers who behave like lunatics on and off the road as they help to get us all tarred with the same brush. I believe these are a group of people who one way or another need to be dealt with but I must admit I don't have any bright ideas on how to do it. You all know the ones I mean as they have probably sat an inch off your rear bumper or driven straight over the top of a pristine sand dune etc. I reckon we all pay a price for these activities at times.

Hey sorry guys I was on the soapbox a bit on that reply but it's a subject a bit close to home for me and these are pretty important issues for all of us.

Cheers.

hi truckster and all. Ive been a truck driver for the last 12 years and also owned a nissan patrol for the last fife years. I never enjoy hearing or worst still having to round a bend and stumble across these accidents and over the years ive seen to many. althrought i cant comment on these guys cause theres a lot of factors which arent stated. .eg. wheather and road conditions. but over the years to many times i see guys in cars including 4wd's think a country road is just a big race track. and i must say that a lot of truckies do as well. but the common cents just go out the window with the last smoke and thats sad. a lot of people hear of these accidents but cause they dont know the people involved they dont give it a second thought. until its to late and it is them. and thats the sad part . one accident is one to many i rekon. anyway keep it safe guys. C YA.