New Fraser Island safety rules

Geeze there is just no common sense anymore is there, its Restrict Restrict Restrict, Penalize Penalize Penalize!!!
How about if you want to hire a 4wd part of it is do a full induction of the island and a half day training operating a 4WD. If your a tourist and you dont want to do that then go on a tour.
If you hire a yacht in the Whitsunday’s for example you have to do about 4 hours practical and if your not a sailor they will teach you or sail you to your first destination or even pay for a skipper.
a lot of these over seas tourist have probably never driven a 4wd!

The main prob with Frazer as i saw on a documentary is Over Tourism! For the unique Dingo's and the Islands sake they need to look at actually reducing number of visits per year. But that will never happen not when there’s $Dollars$ involved eh

[Simsy85]

Originally Posted by MALS-JK

How about if you want to hire a 4wd part of it is do a full induction of the island and a half day training operating a 4WD. If your a tourist and you dont want to do that then go on a tour.

Because the 4WD hire companies a) don't have the people qualified to do this b) won't be bothered to do so

[carvesdodo]

Originally Posted by Simsy85

Well pat, I think your full of it there, as long as we've lived in Queensland (last 20 years), I can remember the news stories on roll overs on fraser island..

The fact is, it happens. I don't give two hoots if a vehicle is designed to take 7 or 8 people, the fact is your offroad, you should be 10 times more careful.

I would rather part with the extra $$ getting another 4WD and taking two vehicles, rather than risk the lives of my family and friends.

When willl people realise with 4WD's it should ALWAYS, ALWAYS be saftey first!

What are you on about Simsy ?????

Hows spending money on another 4wd or taking extra vehicles - going to prevent accidents .... If the same idiots are behind the wheel ???

Thats no different to giving a murderer a knife coz hes not allowed to have a firearm any more ....

The seating / storage capacity is irrelevant to reducing incidents .... Its just easier for lazy govts to legislate restrictions ..... rather than police behaviour.

Rules hidden away in govt documents do nothing to make the great unwashed aware about anything .... A few idiots - processed and locked up for dangerous driving would get the message across tho ... but that would require enforcing of rules that have been around for years ...

YOU risking the lives of your family and friends .... would depend on YOUR driving behaviour .....

If "safety first" is foremost in YOUR thoughts .... YOU wont be risking their lives ... vehicle type / loading regardless.

[Von Depner]

Too many Playstation drivers on the road now They drive like they drive on computers. We need to rethink on when people should be allow to get their licence 21y i say. also at least one year on a motorcyle before they can get a car licence, ban all mobile phones and such and we may see a improvement

[Simsy85]

Carves - plain and simple, these vehicles are OVERLOADED! then driven like idiots.

When it goes over and its packed to the hilt with backpackers, more people get hurt/killed.

Originally Posted by Von Depner

Too many Playstation drivers on the road now They drive like they drive on computers. We need to rethink on when people should be allow to get their licence 21y i say. also at least one year on a motorcyle before they can get a car licence, ban all mobile phones and such and we may see a improvement

Don't even think about blaming this on age - you've got to be 25 to rent a 4WD

[Auscruiser]

Originally Posted by Simsy85

Don't even think about blaming this on age - you've got to be 25 to rent a 4WD

21 Simsy... Unfortunately

[Jimbags]

As someone who hires troopies every year to take uni students on a Red Frogs Retreat, I don't like these new laws. From what I've heard, they are restricting hire troopies only... We usually hire the troopies from sargents here in brisbane, which have stickers all over them stating they are hire vehicles. Whereas most troopies full of backpackers have no signage on them whatsoever... How are they going to police this?

One year we couldn't get troopies from sargents and had to hire from a rainbow beach company. Lets just say that the three vehicles we hired were absolute deathtraps... they should not have been on the road. All had stuffed wheel alignment issues with one vehicle veering sharply to the left if you took your hand off steering wheel (regardless of the terrain.. it did it on the bitumen as well as the sand).

I have driven troopies that were too heavy up top because we didn't have access to a trailer or a ute to carry the gear, but never had a problem, because I drove to the conditions. No sharp turns, and keeping the speed down to a sensible level.... I've never gone over 80 on the beach even when the limit was 100... there are too many washouts and fishermen on the beach to drive at such insane speeds.

I think another issue is the backpackers are told from the start that they will lose their bond if they get saltwater on the vehicles hence why they swerve to avoid waves etc...

At the end of the day, it all boils down to driver awareness and ability. Just recently a 200 series cruiser rolled while being driven by a local, so its not just the backpackers that have accidents.

The biggest issue I have is with people drinking and driving! Some people seem to think that its not a road and can do it!