on the road weights being checked ?????

Warren

as a heavy vehicle driver i have never seen (others may have) any c'vans wheeled in for a weight check.they seem to over look these as more revenue is raised the more tyres you have.ie trucks.

be interesting to hear of any one who has,cheers.

Warren,
Have had caravans since 1971, done many k's throught most of Aus never stopped or looked like getting stopped.
Had boats since before that checked 5 times 1x Evans Heads 1x Hervey Bay 3 x Manly all at boat ramps.
Mike.

Come to think of it, I don't see many weigh bridges open at all anymore. I travel lots of rural roads in SA every year for work, even the Port Wakefield one never seems open anymore. This used to be one of the busiest apart from the one near Bolivar.

Maybe the Mermaids have had their budgets cut.

I never have seen or heard of a caravan being pulled over for weigh, however, if you decide to have a major accident (your fault or not), the first thing they will proberly do is weigh the rig, THEN, intresting times ahead, once insurance companys become invovled.

Shane

hi aussie chief
i have never heard of it happening in wa but wish it would

as i've seen some extremely overloaded rigs cars and 4wds towing
caravans/trailers/ and/or boats/

and boats that appear to be used as trailers loaded to the hilt with all sorts of camping gear etc

some rigs with boats up on roof racks as well as vans/trailers behind
and traveling at 110km instead of the legal limit 100km/per hr towing limit
in w.a and not using wdh devices either and a lot of eastern states plates as well not only w.a reg's

i also know that the speed detectors used do not differentiate between a vehicle with a van /trailer /boat behind and one without

but in 2005 i was stopped just east of norseman while towing my current small camper trailer by eucla police they where going the other way and got me on there incar radar detector and spung around and came after me

as i have followed to many to mention through speed traps multi nova's while towing what ever at 110 and they never get flashed or stopped by hand held radar roadside police either and yet they are 10km's over the towing legal speed of 100km's for all w.a roads
so there is still big loop holes in this so called modern technology and the way they are administered by the road traffic police
this is my observations of the topic
cheers

The relevant State transport authorities do have mobile inspectors on the roads although I don't see them all that often. These inspectors carry portable load-cell weighing instruments that weigh one axle at a time. I would think that they would only be interested in trucks, but you never know! They may well take an interest in those occasional rigs where the driver can hardly see over the front of the bonnet.

Never! And it's frightening! As already said, there are heaps of overloaded vans & vehicles on the road & the authorities don't seem to care. We had an accident with our van a few years back, the insurance company came to the party, but never bothered to check weights, just paid up & I think that has to be irresponsible.

I also think that the ignorance of some van owners is more than a bit worrying. Only this Arvo my wife & I went for a walk out by the Lake & we spotted a rather smart looking Holden & got talking to the owners. The bloke told us it was 12 months old & had a 2 Litre turbo diesel & that they towed a 16 foot caravan with it & were very happy with it's performance.

He then went on to say that the vehicle was rated to be able to tow 1200 Kg. which was about the Tare weight of the van & he realised that the loaded weight would be much more.They "overcame" the problem by fitting a Hayman Reece WDH.

The Sad (read dangerous) part is that they both firmly believed that a weight distribution kit increased the towing ( weight) capacity of the vehicle.

I firmly believe that every time you are heading down the road & you see a vehicle with a caravan in tow heading your way, you ought to be a bit nervous. There will be a good chance that the rig is overloaded, no WDH & the person behind the wheel has not had much experience or training in towing a heavy & long vehicle. The only qualification to tow a 26 footer (or any van ) is whether or not you have the dollars to buy it. If that is not stupid, what is?

So, I'll get off my soap box now & crawl back in my kennel & behave! Hoo Roo

I think the big difference is in the damage that is done to the road. An overloaded van, while dangerous, will not be likely to impose excessive loads on the pavement or bridges, while a truck will. That is the major reason for the scalies checking weights.

This was in Brisbane,

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Shane

My folks, particularly my dad, is VERY anal when it comes to making sure he's not going over weight etc.

So much so that my wife and I were the recipients of their cobb oven due to the folks trying to "cut down on weight" in the caravan!

fingers crossed he thinks the generator and new engel are too heavy soon too! ;)

jason.

Hi Warren,

Wouldn't happen is South Australia mate.
I have never seen a weighing Station opened:-)

Not on weekends or public holidays at least.


Bill.

I've never seen it happen in Wait Awhile

But I've "heard" of the coppers planning to do holiday maker weight checks for a while now.

Also I note the new Forrest Highway has a large pull-in bay marked as vehicle inspection stations etc

Twice I have seen caravans pulled over at the inspection area on the Bruce Hwy at Maryborough. Not too sure if they were weighing them but they looked way overloaded with a tinny on top of the 4WD.

They looked as though they were off to the Cape or gulf Fishing.

Bruce

Fixed weigh-bridges have been closed and mermaids now prefer to use portable units to check suspect vehicles. On a few trips in Queensland over holiday periods police and main roads have had total roadblocks on major highways checking every vehicle coming past.

I would imagine if something did not look right they would have it run over the scales pretty quickly.

I think this is a great idea to get dangerous drivers and vehicles off the roads.

Talking about overloading and a lack of experience.

I was coming through the checkout in Big W (Kempsey) about 2 years ago and a woman in her 60s was going through before me with some tools. Shifter, screw drivers, crappy pliers etc. etc..

I said to her "Looks like someone is going to do some maintenance?"

She replied " No, I'm going to tour around Aus. in the new 5th wheeler I just bought".

As she didn't look the type, whatever that is?, I said I guess that is a bit of a handful ?.

She said "Oh no it was alright, I took it for a run around the block and it went well. And you know I have never so much as towed a box trailer in my life."

I thought Chr1st someone is going to be lucky to survive if she gets into trouble driving down the road.

Can you believe it!. One of these days they will bring in special tests for towing caravans and 5th wheelers.

True story.
Cheers Bruce.

This is a pleasing change of focus on towing vans. Mostly it is about slow vans blocking the road for others. It's good to see that contributors are concerned and as a van tower testing the limits myself I reckon it is absolutely essential that I know the weights I'm dealing with in respect of my van, my car, my combination and what towing aids are required such as WDH's and mirrors. I know that I have a large load and need extra distances to stop etc. I also exercise consideration when I drive allowing traffic to get past etc but there is a ratbag element on the road and they don't change wether they drive a car,bike, truck or van. Nothing is more annoying then someone that needs to get past and slow you down on the next possible hill.

Sorry Warren - I didn't mean to hijack your thread

Kind regards