14th July 2017.

When I visited the Tomingley Rest Area south of Dubbo a couple of weeks ago, scoping for our video, I could hear a horn blowing for some time. As a car went past tooting the horn, I saw the caravan it was following had the rear rhs tyre in pieces. I left a few minutes later and heard trucks call the van and others comment on the problem. Old mate in the van made it another 20k up the road before finally stopping, still with part of the van on the roadway and tiny bits of the tyre barely keeping the rim off the road. It was probably stuffed as well. Now I did not stop, as he was in a bad spot and there was nowhere for me to park safely, he had also passed another rest area and at least three wide shoulder spots where he could have stopped safely and well off the road.

Now many of us do not react well to horn blowing or light flashing and as he was perhaps travelling a bit slower, he may have thought that was the reason for the actions. However, surely there must come a time when anyone would think, what is the problem if a number of people try to make contact? I would imagine if the window was wound down he should have heard something as I could hear it from 50 metres away when he went past. He could have done much more damage, and even when he stopped, he did not get right off the road.

He would have been up for tyre and rim then, could possibly have caused another incident when the tyre flew apart or by where he did finally stop and if he had a radio, could have been contacted. How do we help such people, do they need more education or could it be, he wasn’t interested in anyone else on the road? I would welcome your views. Safe Travelling, Rod Hannifey.