This incident could so easily of shattered any hope of holiday for the family. I was so appauled at the display of crap driving that I feel it is about time we "named and shamed" (to call a phrase) the 1% of caravanners who give everyone else a bad name.
The incident happened at 3-15pm Friday afternoon 24th may at the island on the A49 at the northern approach to Leominster. The road conditions were very wet and were recovering from a cloudburst of rain. I was travelling out of town north to turn right on the roundabout. I entered the roundabout with my right turn signal on and was about to go south down the A49. However I had to do an emergencey stop to allow a car towing a caravan that had come upto the roundabout far too fast from Shrewsbury direction. The driver had a clear look of panic and denial of the fact that his car had got the ABS kicking in and tyres scrabbling for grip and the caravan wheels locked and skidding under hard braking. He clearly cound not stop and went south towards Hereford. Infact when I caught him up at the A44 island he had managed to get to 60mph and proceeded to cut the island across both lanes to carry on to Hereford and again he would of not been able to stop at the roundabout.
What I can not understand is, why do people have to drive so fast in the rain and drive their car which with the caravan on the back is twice it's normal weight and you have probably all of your family inside?
The caravan was an Avondale Rialto Millenium edition and bore the reg (removed by moderator *)
The standard of people's driving and their lack of due care and consideration is just spiraling out of control and if it takes the embarassment of naming and shaming to get some improvement then so be it.
In these times with the cost of fuel rocketing, it would pay dividends to drive more economically. By that I mean ease off the throttle well before the junction or bend and after safely navigating the bend/junction steadily build speed. By just doing this I can return nearly 40mpg Diesel, towing my caravan and furthermore, we arrive relaxed and ready to enjoy our holiday.
*Moderators Edit:
Steve, It's not up to us to 'name and shame' those who'se standard of driving may or may not be of an acceptable standard.
We are not traffic police or judge and jury, this is a caravan forum and while we can hope that those towing caravans drive in a safe and courteous manner and have no reason to doubt the accuraccy of your comments, it's not up to us to enforce traffic laws or to pass wholly subjective judgement on members of the public.
Parksy (Moderator)
The incident happened at 3-15pm Friday afternoon 24th may at the island on the A49 at the northern approach to Leominster. The road conditions were very wet and were recovering from a cloudburst of rain. I was travelling out of town north to turn right on the roundabout. I entered the roundabout with my right turn signal on and was about to go south down the A49. However I had to do an emergencey stop to allow a car towing a caravan that had come upto the roundabout far too fast from Shrewsbury direction. The driver had a clear look of panic and denial of the fact that his car had got the ABS kicking in and tyres scrabbling for grip and the caravan wheels locked and skidding under hard braking. He clearly cound not stop and went south towards Hereford. Infact when I caught him up at the A44 island he had managed to get to 60mph and proceeded to cut the island across both lanes to carry on to Hereford and again he would of not been able to stop at the roundabout.
What I can not understand is, why do people have to drive so fast in the rain and drive their car which with the caravan on the back is twice it's normal weight and you have probably all of your family inside?
The caravan was an Avondale Rialto Millenium edition and bore the reg (removed by moderator *)
The standard of people's driving and their lack of due care and consideration is just spiraling out of control and if it takes the embarassment of naming and shaming to get some improvement then so be it.
In these times with the cost of fuel rocketing, it would pay dividends to drive more economically. By that I mean ease off the throttle well before the junction or bend and after safely navigating the bend/junction steadily build speed. By just doing this I can return nearly 40mpg Diesel, towing my caravan and furthermore, we arrive relaxed and ready to enjoy our holiday.
*Moderators Edit:
Steve, It's not up to us to 'name and shame' those who'se standard of driving may or may not be of an acceptable standard.
We are not traffic police or judge and jury, this is a caravan forum and while we can hope that those towing caravans drive in a safe and courteous manner and have no reason to doubt the accuraccy of your comments, it's not up to us to enforce traffic laws or to pass wholly subjective judgement on members of the public.
Parksy (Moderator)