road reports

This is an excellent example of a lot of things these days.

Firstly not a lot of "so-called" knowalls check all the evidence before putting up a report. Who would think of calling the local people. Nah Not enough time. And its not in my duty statement either!!! Or, I need to go for a latte.

Secondly: I am yet to find a website that is kept up to date. Many reasons for this and the main one is dedication to the customers you are serving. Need to knock off or get to the Cafe or go to a meeting first. Bugger the customers.

Cynical aren't I.

When we went up north we came across the same. So I elected to have alernatives and changed on the run as the roads and local people, rangers etc advised. Bramwell Junction!!!!!. They (roadhouse staff) advised that Palm Creek was too bad. But we thought we would have a look. Quite steep but basically a piece of cake. Even the locals can be wrong. That's why the alternatives.

Phil

Well our boys were out in the desert loading their tankers with oil and before they got the chance to finish down came three inches. A week later and the trucks are still stuck out there. So with so much isolated down pours even the locals are finding it hard to keep up. Remember its been 20 years since the middle of Aus has seen this sort of event so its hard to keep up. So yes the unwary only looking at lets say RACQ will most probably get caught out.

Cheers

Road conditions in many of these areas are provided by the local Police guys updating the information when they are aware of changes. If the guys are out busy tending to on-road situations then this data may not be accurate as is acknowledged in the disclaimer that is ticked when accessing the webpage.

Having less staff than larger communities may mean that the information is not as timely as some expect.

Many Shire websites i have seen tend to be fairly static in their information, and any timely information for those travelling in the area probably comes down to 1 keen staff member who has time available to do the job :)

Andrew

Hi Alloy c/t

I can only comment from my perspective. We frequently contact the Shire of Halls Creek and inform them of weather changes and road conditions. The Shire in all its wisdom usually then deems it necessary to send a vehicle out to find out about nthe conditions, and they rarely come more than 100 km out, we are 300km out from bitumen.

We have now decided it is not worth giving out weather and road conditions, as the Shire will always want to check, so they do their weekly run, and that becomes the latest update.

I know that many people in other communities don't bother anymore either, as too many bureaucrats don't seem to realise that the surrounding weather cannot be estimated by what they see out their window.

I have however told quite a few people not to travel the Tanami or the CSR at the moment, as the heat is rapidly building, and we are having 40 - 45 deg average days now. Heat "punctures" are becoming very common. We actually put a cold can of coke in the sand two days ago, and it burst after six minutes from the heat, so not the place to be at the moment if one isa not used to it.

Cheers