Why is 4wd Driver
Training so important?
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(please
note the views expressed on this page are those of the owners of
Australian 4x4 Travel and not necessarily those of any of our sponsors
or advertisers)
Many
4wd owners have bought their vehicle for reasons other that four wheel
driving, for example towing the boat, the horse float, the caravan or
for a variety of other purposes.
It's often only after a period of owning the 4wd that the thoughts of
actually going four wheel driving start to manifest themselves. After
all it all seems so simple - just go out into the bush, get off road
and the vehicle will do the rest.
Not so easy. Maybe nothing will happen, maybe the drive will go
according to plan and without
hitches. Once you leave the comparative ease and safety of made up,
public roads though, the four wheel driver faces a whole new
world and,
often, a whole new, and sometimes dangerous and life threatening,
learning curve if they are inexperienced.
Even more horrifying, with 4wd ownership rapidly increasing, are the
hundreds of novices that set off into real 4wd country to do one or
other of Australia's great treks with absolutely no driver training.
You could even say that driver training equals survival training when
you are out in the harsh, remote areas of Australia.
In fact, learn from an experienced and accredited trainer and much of
what you will learn does equal just that, survival training,
pure
and simple, even if you do only plan to take the kids bush for a couple
of hours on Sunday afternoon and never do any longer, or more
strenuous, trips.
It seems so exciting, you hear about these trips on websites like this
one,
and many others, and read things like "this is an easy four wheel drive
trip" even things like "parts of this trip could even be done in a
conventional
2 wd" and so on.
Easy they may be. But when a 4wd trip is classified easy, moderate,
hard or whatever, the classification is applicable to experienced four
wheel drivers, not someone who has only ever used the 4wd to take the
kids
to school, or to do the weekend shopping.
Often 10's of thousands of dollars have been spent buying the 4wd in
the first place and yet the 4wd newbie often sees no reason to spend
comparatively few dollars on learning how to use it.
When you stop for a moment and think about it, it doesn't make much
sense does it?
Yes, there are many bush tracks that present little or no problem to
even the most inexperienced off roader, but don't forget the track you
are on is not a normal road and is not subject to normal maintenance,
if any. There will be few or no warning signs of obstacles ahead, some
of which can take you by complete surprise.
Some very simple examples are steep hill ascents or descents, that look
alright at the start but can quickly turn into a slippery, sliding,
rutted out hell for the inexperienced driver, without
any warning.
What about the creek crossing that looks shallow enough to not even
reach your axles and then half way through the creek one of
the
wheels falls into a hole on the creek bed that you hadn't seen? Even if
you walked across first you could miss seeing it. OK so this
vehicle had a winch on the
front when you bought it. Do you know how to use it properly, or worse
still know how to use it at all. Or the banks getting into the creek
and out the other side look firm enough, but the weight of the vehicles
proves otherwise.
Could it possibly happen that the road deteriorates very quickly and
you
don't decide to turn back soon enough and, before you know it, there
seems nowhere to turn around and you are
trying manouvre this thing through deep ruts or over
rocks, and before you know it the vehicle is stuck, miles from anywhere.
Sorry, off course you have the radio equipment to rely on, but it is a
$49.00 special two way set from the local electronics store, with a
range of a kilometer or two. Great if you are driving in convoy with
another vehicle close by. Useless if you are miles, and that could be
hundreds of miles, away from the nearest help.
Perhaps the previous owner also put some decent communications
equipment as well as a winch on the vehicle, you've found the on/off
switch, now what?
If any of this happens in some of our desert or other remote
areas you are in trouble and seriously risking
your life. Countless people have perished in our desert regions through
inexperience and, or lack of preparation. That's not even considering
the risk to the lives of those that are sent out in attempts to find
and, or rescue you.
Driver training can cost less than a regular service on many four wheel
drives today, and besides, you will have a lot of fun doing it, quite
apart from meeting a whole new group of like minded people.
You
owe it to yourself, and your family and friends that you take along for
the ride, get some decent training.
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