On a recent 7000k+ trip I took the time to observe many of the rigs and their drivers,and to put it mildly, my observations were alarming.

Now before everybody jumps down my neck, I know it is dangerous to generalise but lets look at the ridiculous situation that exists in Australia today.

Hypothetical situation :- Dad retires and in his whole life (on a normal car licence) he has driven a small 4cyl car to and from work and on the annual holiday He has never had a towbar on the car and taken a 6x4 box trailer to the dump in his life. He is now collecting a nice big super payout and goes out and buy one of three things (1) a motorhome either 4.5t or maybe bigger at over 4.5t., (2) he buys a new 4WD and a comfortable caravan with all the mod cons around 13mtrs in overall length or (3) Buy a 5th wheeler and prime mover. The actual sizes means very little in this hypothetical case.

Now Dad all proud of his new rig puts Mum on board and off they go the travel the country or whatever their dream is. And what a dream it is, freedom from home, freedom from work, freedom from family and no timetable, free as a bird. We all share that wonderful dream. I'm not knocking the dream just looking at the practicalities of this situation.

Now if he buys a motorhome under 4.5t he can drive it on his normal car licence, this is the normal legal situation but their is a big difference between a 1t car and 4.5t truck with regards to weight, length, width and heights and he really has to learn all over again to make allowances for the differences.

If the motorhome is over the magical 4.5t he has to sit for a driving test to obtain his LR or MR licence which ever is required for his proudly owned new toy. No problem so far as most sensible people will take things a little easy until they become comfortable and competent with their bigger rig. (notice I stressed MOST!)

Where the problem arises is with the legal situation where a totally untrained person can and does buy a car/caravan or truck/5er combination which can be every bit as large as a semi trailer and much heavier than many motorhomes and tear off down the road at 100k per hour and be let loose to inflict themselves on the travelling public.( all this on a car licence) This is a ludicrous situation that is currently allowed by our laws. Granted most will take it easy until they become proficient with their rig (once again stress the MOST!)

However from my observations there are many out the there is RV land who are not comfortable or competent with their rigs and you only have to sit in a caravan park or camp site and watch people trying to reverse their rigs into confined spaces to see what I mean. Many will not book in unless there are drive through parks. Just watch the many rigs poorly packed (balanced) driving down the road. Watch the total lack of courtesy being extended to other road users with long lines of traffic behind slow moving RVs.

There are relevant training course available through many of the motoring organisation but one has to wonder just how many undertake these courses voluntarily.One also has to wonder how long it will be until authorities make these courses compulsory or require towing endorsements compulsory on driving licences. Of course there will be howls of protest from the caravan and 5th wheeler sales organisations if and when this happens as it will no doubt cause a temporary downturn in their sales but the safety issues are real and need to be addressed.

Just because you have towed a box trailer from many years without incident does not mean you are qualified to step up to some of the bigger trailer/caravans that are now on our roads.

Read some of these stories to see just what can happen to the inexperienced when the unexpected happens. We all want a long and happy retirement, not a short and tragic one.