As travellers hit the road for the summer holidays, authorities say too many caravanners and drivers towing loads are speeding.
Heavy haulage and towing vehicles in Western Australia and New South Wales are limited to travelling at 100 kilometres per hour, even when the speed limit for other vehicles is 110kph.
Western Australia's Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner says a recent study monitoring speed suggests many drivers are not aware of this rule.
"We visited 57 separate sites … we had over 5 million vehicles go past those cameras," Mr Warner said."
"[We detected] a total of 3,700 drivers that should have been going 100kph or less [but] were going well over 100kph."
Mr Warner said the data collected at a site along Forrest Highway in WA's Peel and South West regions showed the vast majority of heavy vehicle or towing drivers were travelling above the 100kph limit.
"About 80 per cent were speeding in that zero to 10km range … and the average speed all up was about 107 kilometres an hour."
It's not clear whether these drivers are aware of the reduced speed limit, but Mr Warner said the Road Safety Commission would be placing more emphasis on educating road users.
"Ignorance is not an excuse under the law," he said.
"It might mean that we need to do a lot more targeted education for people who are going on caravanning [trips], or going on long road distances."
'Too big a risk'
Cam Dumesny is the chief executive of Western Roads Federation and said he would be interested to see the breakdown of vehicle types from the study, as most heavier haulage trucks have in-built speed-limiting technology.
"Trucks over 12 tonnes Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) … they're all speed limited," Mr Dumesny said.
"They're capped at 100kph.
"There can be big fines for tampering with it … on the east coast the fine for one driver was $20,000."
Mr Dumesny said he thought the significant penalties for tampering with in-built speed limiters effectively deterred road train drivers from exceeding speed limits.
"Some of the quad road trains in the Pilbara [have a capped speed of] 90kph … and some of those trucks even have telematics devices," he said.
"[If] they go 2km an hour over, it will send an email straight to the company to say that they're speeding."
Mr Dumesny also agreed that more education was needed for holiday-makers.
"I think people, particularly [those] pulling trailers and caravans, aren't aware that they are meant to be kept to 100kph," he said.
"That's an education campaign I think the Road Safety Commission needs to undertake."
Slow down and enjoy the scenery
Long-time WA driver trainer Mike Sandilands regularly teaches caravanners and other holiday-makers who tow trailers.
He said he believed a lack of awareness of speed limit rules was the key issue.
"By and large, most people do think that it is 110kph limit [for towing and heavy haulage]," Mr Sandilands said.
In his training sessions, he tells motorists to make the driving part of the journey — one that is both enjoyable and safe.
"We always encourage [drivers] to err on the side of caution and stay well within that limit … you're going to get better fuel economy," Mr Sandilands said.
"A little bit of extra speed, combined with that load not quite balanced, or a little bit too heavy, or that side wind that you weren't expecting … [can combine] to make the outcome catastrophic."
