Passing

Road trains get off the road and let them go.

Caravans & trailers slow down or stay on the bitumen.

It is bleep s like you that cause the broken windscreens in the first place. If you slow down then there is less chance for stones to be launched by YOUR tyres.
Most of us go away to slow down not race along and miss the scenery.

Anyone else travelling in a 4wd should be considerate enough to think about their fellow travellers without worrying about the 10 minutes they will gain in a days drive.

MickeyJ
I have broken a windscreen on the last three outback trips and its always been on the bitumen (My speed was 100+)

well theres the reason why;;;
comeing from someone thats on the bitumen and the dirt ..all the time..SLOW DOWN ..if your on bitumen .and have to drop a wheel off the side .drop back to 60 even 40..and take your time..its safer and less headaches for everyone.....besides its a holiday whats ya hurry
Bundy

Then what is the problem if you slow down.

The middle of the road is for the the 80 - 100k set as stated.

And usually slow down on a dirt road is not good enough.

Have some consideration for your fellow travellers and always slow when passing.

In my opinion

-No one should stay in the middle of the road while a car is coming towards them
-If you stay in control of the car (No heavy braking, just back the throttle off), and stay in the hard packed gravel, you will throw less rocks around (Good mudflaps are probably important too)
-Unless you slow down very considerably ie both vehicles less than 20 Kmh you may still chip or break the windscreen if you are throwing rocks. (it's like punctures unpredicatble but annoying)
-In my experience the bitumen highways where there is blue metal every where, and speeds are always high, that you have the most chance of breaking the windscreen, and it is vehicles crossing off the "swept" line that cause the problems.

If you are travelling at 80 - 90 on a good outback road, with minimal rocks (Clay top) how much would you expect to slow down?

I have seen all types of reactions, and I prefer people to stay at a moderate speed, but watch where they are putting their wheels, as it is the dropping in to the loose gravel that causes the most problems.

MIckeyJ... I posted a similar post some weeks ago, On single lane outback roads, i always slowdown and move completely off the road to almost a stop.
i would think that any fool coming the other way would see that i am giving them the road for them to stay completely on so as no one gets any screen damage.. BUT !! yes, they still do 120kph past and leave the road 20 metres before they pass and shower us with rocks..and they get none in return. What can you do when you have thickheads sharing the raods with you?? Michael

Hmmmm .... I've got one of those relics buried in the shed somewhere. It might still be useful :)))

Must be still available, we have them on our work Isuzus, and they are only two years old.
Cheers Pete

Hi Crackles,

I guess I live by much the same. New windscreen cost less then a tank of fuel, or one puncture. One of the reasons I like to travel outback, is for the challenging driving, and while I take every effort not to annoy other people many do not seem to understand what they are doing with their vehicles. I enjoy driving briskly, but still safely (I have the family in the car) and that is part of the adventure of the trip.

Then both of you two knuckleheads do us all a favour and stay in Chadstone.

Some of us can't afford glass insurance you mongrels

Blue your windscreen has nothing to fear from Mick & I as we'll both slow down to your pace when passing ;-)
Cheers Craig............

Kroozer, would have been interested if you would have done this on the GRR a few years back when we received a cracked window by a Yota doing about 110 to 120, middle of the road and flying past.

I did go and see the driver 3 days later when we arrives in Wyndham. He worked in the local Police Station. I informed him that he should have slowed down and moved over, and that I needed his ID to give my insurance company, but I think this is bit better way than the road rage of doing the U Turn and catching them.

Would feel sorry for you if you tried chasing me, on most tracks I'm on and can't see behind me, so you would end up with more than one chip in the window by the time you got past.

I think this whole post has missed the point... I have chipped windows now on every trip for last 6 years, sometimes 2 or 3 a year, a couple from my own front tyres throwing stones out in front of me. Others from vehicles passing at abt 50klm's per hr. Someone said above its a bit like punctures, you can take the precautions but cant stop it happening

"if any bastard cruises past me and i get a smashed or badly chipped window i will be turning around and catching them and giving them one back..."

Typical redneck roadrage '2 wrongs gotta be betta than 1 wrong' attitude - Imagine the roads if we all had that attitude!

Blaze,
You have gone too early. Brush up on your reading skills mate. All I was asking people to do was to slow down. Nothing about eliminating stone chips. I would rather have a couple of stones rather than a shower produced by the F1 drivers.

I do a windscreen a year as I travel over 1000kms a week and the roads in NSW are pretty ordinary so I don't need your anecdotes..

I am surprised at the decline in consideration of the travelling public in recent times and I thought maybe they didn't understand what they were doing. Alas it seems like most of them do which is very disappointing. Its like that charity bash mob who landed in Innaminka the other week, 21 cars and 47 punctures. Ha go hard morons. Their problem was speed as they didn't even slow down in town.

Do us all a favour if you are in such a hurry stay on the bitumen.

Blue One, Good on ya mate.

Blue,

If you want to can hassle me over my reading skills maybe you should do the same, if you take the time to read my remark it wasn’t addressed to you.

But I will address you now. If you do A WINDOW A YEAR doing 1000k's per week or 52,000k's per year on roads in NSW that you say are pretty ordinary, I think you have done a remarkable job.

I do drive at speeds appropriate to the conditions and traffic, and agree some people speed when passing, be that in the outback or the Southern Expressway. I also accept that some people don't have the time to drive around the country side at 50klm's per hr.

Some of the land owners that have us as so called tourists using their station tracks don’t have all day to get from point A to B, easies way is to do what I do and that is on most occasions pull to the side of the road and stop if that what it takes.

Fair enough,
Only 50k a year as I take 2 weeks holidays.

Cheers