Trucks, bikes and trains ..

OzJavelin · 23-04-2007, 07:59 AM

Drove from to Beechworth last weekend, thru Goornong, Murchison, etc to Violet Town then up the Hume to Wangaratta and across to Beechworth. All-in-all a nice 3 hour drive. Unusually it was raining(!!!??) most of the way so it was "interesting" on the very craptacular secondary (tertiary?) roads. A few questions I would like to submit:
1. Why are double-B's allowed to travel on these small, rough country roads? I was nearly sideswiped twice by double-Bs on return leg from Violet Town to Murchison ..
2. Why do Harley owners think its OK to ride a black bike wearing black leathers/helmet/etc at about 5pm in heavily shadowed areas without turning on their lights? One guy nearly ended up a hood ornament on my car after I passed a slower car. I took a REALLY good hard look up the road before commiting the to overtake and didn't see the motorbike until it was almost on top of me ..
3. Why are country railway crossings with lights, etc so poorly maintained that me driving over the crossing outside Murchison at about 60km/h nearly ripped the frontend out of my car!! (That one is a real whinge .. I probably should have slowed down a lot more than this .. but it's part of the highway?!)

Hally · 23-04-2007, 08:43 AM

1. Transport is the life blood of country towns.
2. Didn't you know, Harley owners are to tuff to put lights on.
3. Country Victoria and infrastructure...... give me a break!

brodfloyd · 23-04-2007, 09:44 AM

ahhh dude, its murchison,

prydey · 23-04-2007, 12:49 PM

most refer to the trucks as 'b-doubles' as well.

i don't know the roads or places you are referring to but i do know truckies have certain routes even when there are sometimes other better roads they could travel.
the example of this that i can think of is just out of dubbo there is a turn off that goes to mendoorin. cuts back onto the newell just before coonabarrabran. sort of bypasses gilgandra and is about 10km shorter but i think the main reason is there's a bit of a range between gilgandra and coona. the mendooran road is not much more than a goat track. it is bitumen and can fit traffic going in both directions.

**Full Noise** · 23-04-2007, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

Why are double-B's allowed to travel on these small, rough country roads?

Probably because:

A. They pay registration, and a hell of a lot more than you do.
B. It’s obviously a gazetted B-double route.
C. It’s probably the most direct route to their destination.

Do you think that truck drivers like travelling on narrow, badly maintained county roads? You’re whingeing because you think some truck nearly sideswiped you. How do you think these blokes feel when there’s another B-double approaching them with little room for error? Also, just for your information. B-doubles are actually safer than conventional semi-trailers on narrow roads because of their tracking abilities.

Instead of bitching here looking for sympathy, why don’t you complain to Vicroads or the local member for the area you have the issue with about increasing road funding.

TATT2 · 23-04-2007, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

..
2. Why do Harley owners think its OK to ride a black bike wearing black leathers/helmet/etc at about 5pm in heavily shadowed areas without turning on their lights? One guy nearly ended up a hood ornament on my car after I passed a slower car. I took a REALLY good hard look up the road before commiting the to overtake and didn't see the motorbike until it was almost on top of me ..
3.

You couldnt see the bike yet you good tell it was a Harley? Harleys come with the headlight hardwired on...think you need to concentrate a bit more on the road conditions and not blame everyone else for your poor driving...

schmidty · 23-04-2007, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Full Noise

Probably because:

A. They pay registration, and a hell of a lot more than you do.
B. It’s obviously a gazetted B-double route.
C. It’s probably the most direct route to their destination.

Do you think that truck drivers like travelling on narrow, badly maintained county roads? You’re whingeing because you think some truck nearly sideswiped you. How do you think these blokes feel when there’s another B-double approaching them with little room for error? Also, just for your information. B-doubles are actually safer than conventional semi-trailers on narrow roads because of their tracking abilities.

Instead of bitching here looking for sympathy, why don’t you complain to Vicroads or the local member for the area you have the issue with about increasing road funding.

Couldn't have said it better myself

OzJavelin i've driven quite a bit on the roads you're talking about. There's plenty worse, and plenty that are harder to drive than those ones. We spend most of our time on back country roads as we pretty much just deliver to farms. Some of the roads are so badly marked or the shoulders have gotten so bad its a fight just to keep the truck on the road. There's a road i drive about 2 or 3 times a week between geelong and Bacchus Marsh that is so bad in sections that you have no choice when traffic is coming towards you but to dive off onto the gravel shoulder because the lane is actually about 300mm narrower than the truck. There is usually a drop off onto the gravel of up to 100mm when it gets bad, and the shoulder ramps down steeply into the ditch. No matter how many times you do it, it still makes you uneasy driving that stretch. It is a B double approved route also. There's plenty of second rate roads, and usually the reasons for them being is such a bad state are pollitical. This road i mentioned is so bad because it borders 3 shires, and no one wants to step up and be the ones to spend their money on it.

The guy who had no light on while riding his bike, pretty much comes down to him having little worry about self preservation. While he probably didnt legally have to have it on at the time, it'd make things clearer and safer for everyone, but hey, if he wants to end in a tree on the highway, good luck to him. Same as anyone on a push bike riding outside the bike lane and in the main driving lane. If i was on a bike, i wouldn't care if it was legal to ride 6 abreast, somewhere your own safety has to come to mind, doesnt it? If i've got the choice of coming over the creast of a hill on the highway and having a head on with a loaded B Double or cleaning up a push bike rider having a social club meeting riding 3 wide, bye bye push bike.

And if you're talking about the railway crossing i think you are, traffic that hits it is usually going pretty slow because of the intersection its near. Guess you'll remember it for next time anyway

OzJavelin · 24-04-2007, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schmidty

OzJavelin i've driven quite a bit on the roads you're talking about. There's plenty worse, and plenty that are harder to drive than those ones. We spend most of our time on back country roads as we pretty much just deliver to farms. Some of the roads are so badly marked or the shoulders have gotten so bad its a fight just to keep the truck on the road. There's a road i drive about 2 or 3 times a week between geelong and Bacchus Marsh that is so bad in sections that you have no choice when traffic is coming towards you but to dive off onto the gravel shoulder because the lane is actually about 300mm narrower than the truck. There is usually a drop off onto the gravel of up to 100mm when it gets bad, and the shoulder ramps down steeply into the ditch. No matter how many times you do it, it still makes you uneasy driving that stretch. It is a B double approved route also. There's plenty of second rate roads, and usually the reasons for them being is such a bad state are pollitical. This road i mentioned is so bad because it borders 3 shires, and no one wants to step up and be the ones to spend their money on it.

As a truckie, thanks for taking the time to answer my question and explain things. I'm just surprised that roads like this (and the one you mentioned) actually allow vehicles this size when the road itself is so poor? Despite what was mentioned by someone else as these "double-Bs" (prime mover and two full-sized trailers?) being MORE stable, the ones I saw were very unstable on this road, swaying all over the place. Much like a car towing a car-trailer over a very rough surface ..

Quote:

Originally Posted by schmidty

And if you're talking about the railway crossing i think you are, traffic that hits it is usually going pretty slow because of the intersection its near. Guess you'll remember it for next time anyway

Yep, I'll certainly remember next time. Funny part is last time I drove over it in the ute (AUII) and it didn't seem to worry it. The SV8 bottomed out with a major bang.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TATT2

You couldnt see the bike yet you good tell it was a Harley? Harleys come with the headlight hardwired on...think you need to concentrate a bit more on the road conditions and not blame everyone else for your poor driving...

I'm sure Harleys come with exhaust systems too, but none of them seem to work once they leave the bike shop. A black V-twin with no effective exhaust and no headlights on ... my money was on it being a Harley, but I could have easily been wrong.

OLDFORDNUT · 24-04-2007, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by TATT2
You couldnt see the bike yet you good tell it was a Harley? Harleys come with the headlight hardwired on...think you need to concentrate a bit more on the road conditions and not blame everyone else for your poor driving...///////////////////// ahh yes maybe the newer ones are the older ones dont,also please refer to next comment,
///////////////,(I'm sure Harleys come with exhaust systems too, but none of them seem to work once they leave the bike shop ).///////////////////
hahaha lol too bloody right.
tatt2 you cant be serious ,i ride bikes too,and im always amazed at riders not having there headlights on, ive had to take evasive action to avoid morons on bikes several times on country roads and yet as a rider im constantly watching for them from front and coming up behind me so i can move over a bit to let them pass safely.even with headlight on they can be nearly invisable.
cheers Nick

prydey · 24-04-2007, 11:35 AM

a prime mover with two 'b' trailers or full size trailers as you put it, would be over length

TATT2 · 01-05-2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicholas

Originally Posted by TATT2
You couldnt see the bike yet you good tell it was a Harley? Harleys come with the headlight hardwired on...think you need to concentrate a bit more on the road conditions and not blame everyone else for your poor driving...///////////////////// ahh yes maybe the newer ones are the older ones dont,also please refer to next comment,
///////////////,(I'm sure Harleys come with exhaust systems too, but none of them seem to work once they leave the bike shop ).///////////////////
hahaha lol too bloody right.
tatt2 you cant be serious ,i ride bikes too,and im always amazed at riders not having there headlights on, ive had to take evasive action to avoid morons on bikes several times on country roads and yet as a rider im constantly watching for them from front and coming up behind me so i can move over a bit to let them pass safely.even with headlight on they can be nearly invisable.
cheers Nick

Dont you know the meaning of a headlight hardwired on? you cant turn the headlight off its on all the time

:

Outbackjack · 01-05-2007, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

Drove from to Beechworth last weekend, thru Goornong, Murchison, etc to Violet Town then up the Hume to Wangaratta and across to Beechworth. All-in-all a nice 3 hour drive. Unusually it was raining(!!!??) most of the way so it was "interesting" on the very craptacular secondary (tertiary?) roads. A few questions I would like to submit:
1. Why are double-B's allowed to travel on these small, rough country roads? I was nearly sideswiped twice by double-Bs on return leg from Violet Town to Murchison ..
2. Why do Harley owners think its OK to ride a black bike wearing black leathers/helmet/etc at about 5pm in heavily shadowed areas without turning on their lights? One guy nearly ended up a hood ornament on my car after I passed a slower car. I took a REALLY good hard look up the road before commiting the to overtake and didn't see the motorbike until it was almost on top of me ..
3. Why are country railway crossings with lights, etc so poorly maintained that me driving over the crossing outside Murchison at about 60km/h nearly ripped the frontend out of my car!! (That one is a real whinge .. I probably should have slowed down a lot more than this .. but it's part of the highway?!)

You should try country QLD roads. They make what you described sound like an autobahn.