Keep Left Unless Overtaking

1/5/2010 3:14:00 AM

May 2010

Earlier in the year, a morning TV host in New Zealand embarked on a campaign to have motorhomes removed from their roads. He maintained New Zealand’s narrow regional byways weren’t meant for heavier recreational vehicles, and that we should be banned in favour of our smaller, zippier automotive cousins.

(So, we decided to have a bit of fun with the man. Unnamed boffins sailing alongside the Good Ship KEA announced the installation of nitrous oxide injector systems across our rental fleet in Australia and New Zealand. All completely bogus and ridiculous, made more so by the fact the release of this information coincided with the first day of the month of April.)

Our friend from the telly isn’t the first to voice such opinions, nor is he alone. As a community, we seem to cop more than our fair share of blame for traffic congestion.

In the minds of many, all types of recreational vehicles – such as motorhomes and caravans – tend to get lumped together. And anyone with one eye on prices at the bowser can understand why caravan travellers in particular, are happier sitting below the limit on the freeway; keeping their speed at a peak of around 90km per hour can equate to a whopping 20-25% saving in fuel. That’s a lot of dollars left in the wallet.

It’s less of an issue with motorhomes, which are designed for the extra load and can generally sit around 120km/h without undue strain or excessive fuel consumption.

For all that, I suspect I’m making a moot point. My take is that these criticisms have less to do with the speeds RV folk drive, and are more firmly rooted in the fact that some people just don’t like to drive behind a vehicle that’s larger than theirs (or any vehicle, for that matter).

I’m not even going to start on the safety issues associated with this argument, which would fill several columns in their own right. Instead, I’m interested in the reason why we’re all on the road in the first place.

This may sound twee, but for me, motorhoming is as much about the joy of the journey as it is the destination – and I know many Wanderer readers feel the same way. I’m not prepared to increase my speed beyond set limits just because someone else is in a rush.

The joy of driving is something that means very different things to different people. CMCA members are united in a particular form of travel, as do street car enthusiasts, vintage car clubs, professional drivers – the list is long and varied. Bottom line is, we’re all on the same roads, and no one group has rights or precedence over any other.

The upshot for us is, we shouldn’t feel pressure from the likes of our New Zealand TV host to change our habits just because someone else feels they have right of way. Enjoy the journey.

Along the way, we’ll be holding our KEA open day at our Sydney depot in Milperra on Saturday 8 May, and will be at Rural Scene’s Caravan, camping, 4WD, Fish and Boat Show in the Hunter Valley from the 21st to the 23rd. Drop by and say hi.

...and if you decide a nitrous oxide injection system for your rig isn’t such a ridiculous idea after all, we should talk. normanroe@keacampers.com.

Safe travels,

Norman