Every year there are people seriously injured and killed in overtaking maneuvers on dirt roads. Near misses are common. Most likely it is a case of inexperience, as those who regularly travel through the interior of Australia understand all too well the dangers.
This video shows an event that is common. An oil and gas rig move in the remote areas of the outback. Workers are moving in convoy at a safe speed when another vehicle wants to overtake. Impatience and risk taking can have catastrophic consequences.
The message from this video is simple.
- Avoid driving your vehicle in a dust cloud. Apart from poor visibility, the air cleaner of your vehicle will need replacing sooner.
- If you are going to stop then get off the road. Other vehicles may not stop and could collide with the rear of your vehicle.
The driver and passenger of this vehicle can rightfully hurl abuse (there is some colorful language in this clip) at the other vehicle, but they didn’t consider that this event might happen. Driving assuming that everything will be OK works most of the time, but not all the time. Plan for the possibilities and then you won’t be surprised.
This vehicle was traveling at 60kph. What would have happened if another vehicle traveling in the same direction had slowed or stopped in the dust cloud in front of them? Visibility was so poor that there would be no chance to stop in time.
Recent Comments