Tragedy north of Alice Springs

I don't think those chromed "dress" bars qualify as roll-bars as such. Totally different specs.

Regards

D40 i'd say with those big guard flares.

Those bars are only Sports bars, just for looks. They only mount to the top of the tub, and are usually thin walled stainless. No strength at all.

Second fatality this week in the NT involving someone overtaking a road train.

The Navara was towing a tandem trailer with a vehicle on the trailer.
The way the vehicle is tied down is critical to the stability of the trailer, and when you pull out to overtake, the inertia of the vehicle/load on the trailer would have caused the instability and wobbled in exactly the wrong direction for stability, added to by the buffeting by the road train.

Had some experience with this.

If the vehicle was only captured by it's wheels then the body will roll on the suspension and shockers,

The shocks of the vehicle on the trailer being the absolute critical thing here, and you don't ever need shocks on a trailer either until something goes wrong, then suddenly you do.
Navaras in std trim and done a few Km will have poor shocks, never good to begin with and if towing this creates an inability to control it's own body movement.

This goes to show a relatively light vehicle towing more than it's own weight is inherently unstable and as RECENT THREADS have discussed, not many people take due care. Just because it will tow it easily doesn't mean safety in all circumstances.
To tie the body of the vehicle to the trailer will make it more controlled as the weight of a caravan is, but it still reduces the safety margin when towing.

The Aluminium POSE bar which most vehicles have is either just worn away or just folds up when the pressure is on during an accident.
A human can bend those bars by only using full body weight on one end.
A rollover produces far more force and as the post above says, They can't ever be considered as a Roll Bar. If you think they will protect you, think again.

Probably would not have happened if all mechanical factors had been satisfactory.

Comments from the NT news article !!!!
Latest Comments:

I really find it hard to believe that a tandem trailer would start to sway, i have never seen or herd of such a thing, even when you get a flat tyre on a trailer single or tandem will they sway, i believe it was the road train trailer that swayed into the path of the over taking vehicle, because anyone who travel along the Arnhem or Stuart Highways will note that these road trains consistently sway into the opposite lane. people of the NT can expect alot more deaths on our roads NOW
Posted by: MARRAKAI MAULER of MARRAKAI 09:17am Friday 31st August

Australians just can't drive under any circumstances.

Posted by: Owen Hargreaves 11:59pm Monday 27th August

Very interesting comments " not " I think they needs to get out more .

It is my understanding that the car trailer clipped the drive wheels of the road train so it must have just about passed the truck and the truck had just left A/S and was most likely unloaded and traveling at speed . re roll over bars , Not much is going to save you when you go off the road into rocks at speed !!! Was this just a bad choice of over taking ?