Fraser Island Speed Limit

well 80 suits my non-turbo diesel just fine ...

80 kph is probably still too fast for the majority anyway, given that it is a beach which has a surface that changes constantly with tide and sea conditions, not an expressway that usually has a pretty stabel surface. Add in the long stretches with a couple of mm's of flowing surface water down around low tide mark from natural springs and seeps that are just ripe to aquaplane on at far lesser speeds than 80kph.

Which then begs the question - if it already is 80kph then what will it be reduced to? 60kph?

I've seen 100kph reported incorrectly so many times now I'm wondering if it really is 100kph. Someone on ausfish asked one of the journalists why she said 100 and was told it was the constable dealing with the accident who said it was 100!!

I sincerely hope it isn't being reduced from 80 to 60 as that would make it a very long and tedious trip up the eastern beach.

G'dayAllan,

Not sure that this or the other proposed measures such as licencing etc will have any effect on reducing the potential accidents by troopies loaded with back packers!

I have always thought the speed limit to be 8o as well with 40 on the inland tracks. Some days it can be a race track but other days and high tides can be a real slog. And it is really a common sense choice dictated by the conditions. No amount of speed limit fiddling will prevent the next crash unfortunately.

Judging by the press it would seem that the Govt has responded to the media outcry and the greens with proposed licencing requiring training on preserving the environment as well. Some sensible solutions aimed at the hiring companies seemed to have been mostly ignored.

Kind regards

the speed limit on Fraser was 100 klm /hr only it was recommended that you only do a max. of 80 kph. Dave from P7 offroad (AKA - Chopper) had a meeting with the Hervey Bay Mayor last week and this was one topic discussed between them. below is a copy from the thread he posted on another forum.




Firstly, I'll declare my obvious conflict of interests...


Now, I met with the Mayor of Hervey Bay the other day, who, the night before had recieved a call from the BBC and was interviewed, live, and without warning, and broadcast in the town where the male fatality came from... now that is just awful!


The speed limit (and this comes directly from the Mayor) has never been enforceable on Fraser... there was a bylaw in draft (he showed it to me) that was to go before the next council meeting, to formalise the speed limits as 80 on the beach, 35 inland and 20 in the townships.

As it currently stands, except for where there are signs, like around the Maheno, the speed limit is 100, everywhere... (however you can still get booked for dangerous driving regardless of what speed you are doing).

There have been 21 accidents - reported to the police - not just rollovers, but total number of MVA since 2005, with upwards of 220 000 people visiting the island. This is a better ratio than some stretches of highway, or some shopping centre carparks.

Now, EVERY hire car acident would be reported to the police, but quite possible that some private ones would not be.

"{backpackers}" represented 19 of those 21 accidents.


(of course, how does one define a backpacker), I am hiring three landcruisers next week for a field study trip to Fraser, does that make me a backpacker... yet because we are hiring from a traditional "backpacker" hire company, if we had an incident we would be included in that stat.


I have been to Fraser, lots! really, lots and lots. and in my time I have seen just as many foolish behaviours from non-backpackers as from backpackers, and i am certain that i have helped to recover more 'aussies' than "Svens" (or "Ingas")


There are a couple of causal factors, and this comes from the preliminary police report, which I saw with my own eyes.

1. The estimated speed was between 110 and 120 km/hr.
2. Most occupants were not wearing seatbelts, including the two who were thrown from the vehicle, who died.
3. The vehicle rolled (and flipped) 8 (that's eight) times.


Those three conditions, on the highway, in the desert, in a shopping centre carpark, would have had the same result...




Now as to having 'guided' tours. The current model being suiggested is that groups of 5 cars (that's 50 people remember) will have a 'guide' sit in the passenger seat of teh lead car, and 'look in the mirror' - quote from the paper, to guide the group around the island...

This will not be a guided tour, this will not be a better option, this will just be some young, or old bloke, who thinks that the idea of hanging out with backpackers in bikinis (or less) is a good way to earn a crust.... The pay rate for this will be very ordinary, and will attract the lowest common denominator.

I have suggested that people should have options... at this time, nobody, even people qualified and insured like myself, or any of the other, reputable 4wd tour companies (and by this i do not mean ones - with a couple of exceptions - based on Fraser or at Noosa) are not allowed to operate tag along tours, we have tried, but EPA (now DERM) will not issue a Commercial Tour Operator's Permit (CTO) to a tag along business - and lets not even start about offering training on 'public land'.

There is a market, even amongst our overseas visitors, for professionaly guided tag alongs on Fraser, many visitors do want to learn and experience the island, not just drink and sunbathe, and for many, unless they are very lucky in who they end up sharing a car with, their Fraser experience is less than they had hoped it would be.



phew, that was a lot...




(oh and the Jimny quote above... one of the hire companies has a suzuki sierrra in it's compound this week that has been rolled over on the Island)
__________________

www.P7OFFROAD.com.au
Accredited Offroad Driver Training

Why not just make it mandatory to have completed an nationally accredited 4wd driver training course as a condition of driving a vehicle on Fraser (And Moreton, Bribie etc) ?

I would put money on it that even if the speed limit was 60kph the speed would still have been between 110 - 120 and they would have still rolled over EIGHT times...

80 is reasonable though... we all have to remember that this is the MAXIMUM speed and not the speed you have to travel at.

35klms/hr on inland tracks is 70klms/hr headon speed . Try max of 20kls/hr . 70klms/hr would be better on the beach . I swear buses do closer to 80klms/hr on the inland track .

Hmmm, does that apply to aircraft :-))

At 80 kms an hour an overloaded troopy with 11 people and all of their luggage and an inexperience driver, will still end in a similar result. Troopies are top heavy at the best of times let alone overloaded.

Max 40kmk/ph general with reduced speeds in populated/designated areas down to 15-20 km/ph

I'm yet to see where a law has stopped idiots being idiots?
Another waste of tax payers money and an inconvenience to the average person!

Cheers

OK. I have just watched a Police Officer on Sunshine Coast TV news say that the speed limit IS 100kph but they "have been enforcing 80kph for years".

Now that is fine and dandy but how are they able to "ENFORCE" something that does not exist in legislation? That is plain illegal.

If the authorities were convinced that 80kph was the safest maximum speed then why did they not legislate to that? If they had done so maybe some people would not have been killed or injured.

Allan