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Towing's honour system

It's a fact that the only time the legality of a caravan-towing arrangement is going to be checked is if it's involved in a serious accident. Sure, a Highway Patrol copper may cast an eye over the coupling and the lights if he's pulled the driver over for an offence, but the copper won't have access to the manufacturer's limits that set the difference between legal and illegal towing. Nor are the towing capabilities of the driver ever tested. Ever. Yet caravan rigs are to be encountered on every road every day, and at certain times of the year, the most dangerous times for driving, the highways are thick with them.

As I write in my column in The Herald today, I've towed caravans, boats and trailers illegally for decades, or at least I assume now it was illegally because of the mismatch of vehicle and trailer. It used to be that I'd simply hook up and go, but with the purchase of a new camper caravan this year I decided to ensure that my towing arrangements were legal. I must be getting old. Getting definitive information has been very difficult, and it wasn't until I talked to Hayman Reese, the manufacturer of towing equipment, that I learnt my car's limits and requirements. Then I relied on the advice of a knowledgeable retailer, in my case Robert at ISP Islington.

Not only has it been difficult, it has been expensive, close to $2000, and the combination of the two leads me to suspect that a significant proportion of people towing anything on our roads are towing it illegally and dangerously. If I'd have hooked up my new van and headed off, as I'd certainly have done if I hadn't had a rare concern for fine-point legalities, my articulated vehicle would have been very illegal and very dangerous. Yet, with the vehicle an all-wheel-drive with self-levelling suspension, it would have been the safest such arrangement I'd had over five caravans!

In a perfectly bureaucratic world each vehicle-caravan (or vehicle-trailer) combination would be inspected and registered as approved, and towing would require its own driving test. The NRMA tells me the statistics do not suggest there's a problem with towing vans and thus it is not advocating change to the current arrangements, and the RTA tells me that there has been a 15 per cent fall in accidents involving a towed caravan or a trailer in the four years to 2006.

I can't recall seeing someone towing a caravan or trailer driving dangerously or erratically, and I suppose that the likelihood that caravanners especially are of a mature age explains much of that.

Still, I've been surprised by the good sense of the towing rules, a good sense not always to be found in rules, and by the fact that these rules are almost an honour system.

What do you say? Rig inspection and driving test, or leave the rig and driving up to the individual?

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Posted By: Jeff Corbett on 2/03/2009 4:11:15 PM | Comments (18)

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Jeff good to hear you got your latest van from Islington. Perhaps the answer to getting the protitutes in Islington off the street is to park your van in the lane so that the ladies of the night (or day) can use it to turn the odd trick. You charge rent on it (maybe negatively gear it) then burn it after it becomes infected with the scent of human kindness and then claim it on insurance. Maybe you could then go from a Swallow to a Swan!!! Get back in the tent!!! Big Dick from Delicate Nobby.....

Posted by big dick, 2/03/2009 5:24:30 PM

What was it you learnt that now means you are legally towing? What changed from being illegal and dangerous?

Posted by Seano, 2/03/2009 5:31:52 PM

Hello Seano. Keeping the tow weight and the towball weight within the tow vehicle's limits, as set by the manufacturer, is critical and, I suspect, often not done. For many vehicles the towball weight, by which is meant the downward force exerted by the loaded trailer on the towbar, is very low unless weight-distribution bars are used. Towbars have their own limits too. Why did I change my outlook? One factor was that if I were to be involved in an accident the insurer can dump me if the van was not towed legally and it is likely that I'd be held to be at fault.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 3/03/2009 9:13:39 AM

Jeff,with the earlier caravans did you experience any developing a sway behind the vehicle, requiring acceleration for correction ?

Posted by chaff and oats, 2/03/2009 8:37:18 PM

Yes, chaff and oats, and pitching more often, but I took it easy. My cars were usually so low on power I didn't have much choice.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 3/03/2009 9:14:35 AM

Jeff, you certainly went to the best, ISP and Hayman Reece have been in the towing business for ever. I have never owned a caravan, thought it easier and cheaper to spend two weeks leave in a rented unit, but i can see the freedom aspect of moving on if you want. A friend of mine did the grey nomad thing for about six months. His biggest complaint was he felt he was being stalked. Every time he went somewhere new, the same people kept turning up. He was a bit paranoid though.

Posted by buell, 3/03/2009 9:19:59 AM

Don't feel bad jeff, most people are unaware of loading rules. After 20 years of towing I found out that load capacity is "Dry". That means that even if you have a large 4wd. after you fit a bull bar, tow bar, roof rack, Engel fridge, boat on the roof, 4 passengers and your toys in the boot you may not have ANY legal reserve for towing let alone the ball weight of a heavily laded caravan. What manufacturer ever mentions that?

Posted by Ozzie, 3/03/2009 9:50:08 AM

Yes, keeping the mass and ball weight is very important. People forget how much the amount of "esssential camping gear" weighs and just bog the van down! Keep all heavy stuff over the axle and some weight over the front. And I ALWAYS tow with anti sway bars. Hate to say it, but thats where a nice big 4WD is handy- I pull a 1500 kg caravan (plus gear inside) with a Discovery and anti sway bars. it never ever moves around- as my dad always told me, better to have the dog wag the tail rather than the tail wag the dog! I often wonder about the safety of a Commodore or Falcon towing a big 4 wheel caravan, even if the towing capacity is suppose to be 2000 kgs.

Posted by Seano, 3/03/2009 9:52:45 AM

i had heard you could get a good tow job in islington.

Posted by chameleon, 3/03/2009 12:51:12 PM

My predictions have come true, we have now been bored to death by even more articles on YOUR camping/van adventures. The only people I know in your age group that have bought a van have turned into abject boors. All they talk about is their annexes and their towing problems - I rest my case. They all seem to be "waiting for God". Get a life, buy a boat or something more interesting!!

Posted by BoredStiff, 3/03/2009 8:48:54 PM

Just sold my boat, a week ago, to make room for the van. I'll replace it with a fishing kayak I can carry on the van. I suggest you get a life, get a van and a kayak! Boats are boring.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 4/03/2009 9:00:20 AM

Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. You've either left yourself open or you like to be a few moves ahead in a game of blog-chess. What would be more dangerous? A lumbering behemoth of a 4WD or an illegally towed cararvan ready to depart from its car at 80kmh?

Posted by nowonmaii, 4/03/2009 8:48:13 AM

The more dangerous? A caravan about to depart a lumbering behemoth of a 4WD.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 4/03/2009 9:02:33 AM

lol

Posted by nowonmaii, 4/03/2009 9:26:00 AM

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