Police raising awareness of caravan loading in wake of crash stats

Acting superintendent Adam Muir said none of the 18 caravan operators pulled over had weighed their vans before and all were surprised to see that their weight had been incorrectly loaded.

"We worked out where they were unevenly distributed and worked with them to rebalance it," he said.

"The name of the game here is to try and assist road users who don't usually get regulated, to assist them with safer driving.

"It's an education and awareness campaign and road safety is our absolute priority."

According to Road Policing Group Sergeant Brett Vinson, overweight and poorly loaded caravans and tow vehicles are contributing to nearly half the number of traffic crashes in Queensland where the vehicle towing the caravan is at fault.

He told Queensland Country Life misunderstandings of vehicle manufacturers' recommendations were contributing to those results.

"Vehicle manufacturers state that their vehicle can tow 3.5 tonnes, which it can, but then you can't load the car up," he said. "It's not telling the whole story of towing capabilities."

As well as interstate tourists there are 200,000 registered caravans in Queensland, according to A/Supt Muir, and a 15 per cent increase in ownership since 2019.

"People bought them and said, let's go see Australia, without a care in the world," he said.

"The accidents we're seeing are very preventable if people take a little bit of time before they head away on their trip.

"We say, don't just plan when you're leaving and where you're going to go, plan on how to get your weight down low."

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Another message was that a big powerful car won't necessarily get people out of trouble, if weight was distributed incorrectly.

Weighing sessions have been held at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane and brochures handed out, and some people had volunteered to be weighed at the awareness day in Gympie.

"We'd certainly support that," A/Supt Muir said. "We're not out there to fine people, this is about awareness raising."

He formerly worked at Clermont and said in his experience, most people transporting valuable horses in floats and gooseneck trailers were pretty steady and careful, and generally compliant.