Nightmare dashcam footage shared by Australian truck drivers

Most of that just looks like typical Aussie driving, unfortunately. Maybe didn’t see the truck, maybe was hurrying to avoid getting stuck behind it.

People are idiots.

Possibly a child in the left hand front or rear seat ;(

Not surprised to see the western ring road and the calder in Melbourne featuring prominently.

It surprised me too. I there is definitely some aquaplaning going on but I have never seen it that bad in Australia. I wondered about aerodynamic effects between the two trucks causing a jackknife.

Yeah I am in the habit of drafting (at a safe distance) off trucks on freeways and highways. Makes for a nice steady ride as long as you stay out of the buffet. One day on the geelong road (might have featured here) I heard this big deep thump (like a 0.5 Hz wave). I started to brake, not sharply, but putting some distance between my corolla and the truck ahead. About two seconds after the explosion this mess of retread material came out the back of the truck. This stuff is all over the place on that road but its the first time I have seen a wheel go like that.

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The truck drivers are under severe economic pressure to push their tyre durability to the limit, unfortunately.

Road trains aren’t exactly your normal 18 wheelers.

Well, no, that’s your normal 86-wheeler. :slight_smile:

They’re a bugger to pass on a corner. Small steering inputs at the front get magnified as they pass down the train, like a cracking whip. It’s not uncommon to see the last trailer drifting sideways across both lanes.

Used to follow semis on the interstate in California central valley in the worst bouts of Tule fog. They would speed irresponsibly, but I figured that I could stop faster and they’d knock any obstructions out of the way.

Stopped doing that on my motorcycle after just the tire experience you describe. Stopped doing that in my car because I got older less foolhardy. Fog is scary.

My night vision is dreadful, to the point where I try to avoid riding country roads at night. I just can’t reliably see where the road is going if there aren’t street lights.

But, occasionally, shit happens and you get caught in a spot where you have to keep going.

More than once I’ve dealt with that problem by waiting for a truck to go past and then chasing after the big glowy thing. That trick came in handy the day I lost my glasses, too.

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