Calls for urgent action to tackle growing caravan crash rates on Aussie roads
There are renewed calls for authorities to provide specialised training for drivers towing caravans as more and more vehicles hit Australian roads. It follows an increase in accidents involving caravans, as experts argue a focus on safe towing education can reduce the road fatality rate.
This week, Queensland released its Transport and Main Roads Budget for the upcoming year, and while industry experts praised its focus on safe driving initiatives, they are calling for subsidising towing courses for drivers to help make roads safer.
"There's a lot involved in the application of connecting the recreational vehicle to the car, that's one thing, but then there's actually how to tow and manoeuvre safely on the road and respond to certain conditions," Jason Plant from Caravan and Trade Industries Association Queensland (CTIAQ) told Yahoo News.
"We think a stand-alone, subsidised towing course would be of great benefit to road safety in general."
Most private caravan towing courses in Queensland cost about $500 and many new van drivers take to the road without taking a course. Research carried out by CTIAQ found 80 per cent of RV owners in the state believe their driving behaviour would change for the better if they had proper access to education.
"There's no doubt that with more knowledge and more training from industry experts, it will improve people's confidence," Plant said, adding the government-led education program VanSafe — which takes a more general approach to caravanning — has already resulted in 60 per cent of the over 1,300 participants changing their towing behaviour.
The CTIAQ hopes to build on the promising results coming from the VANSafe program, which was launched in 2023 with help from the Queensland government. CTIAQ is seeking an investment of $1.98 million over four years from the state government to support VANSafe in providing towing-specific courses, and has requested $3 million of federal funding.
Yahoo News has reported on countless incidents of dangerous road conditions caused by drivers incorrectly towing their caravan to their vehicle, or making mistakes with weight distribution. A caravan was spotted on the road violently swaying near Adelaide after the driver appeared to unsafely loaded bikes onto the back of the van. In April, Yahoo reported on a Victorian couple who were 50km from home when their tethered caravan spun around in the middle of the road, narrowly missing a 57-tonne truck travelling behind it.
There have been 136 fatalities on Queensland roads in 2025 up to June 22. This is up 25 per cent on the 109 road fatalities for the same time of the year in 2020, according to the state's Department of Transport and Main Roads. Last year was reported to be the deadliest year on Australian roads since 2012, and this year is forecast to be even worse.
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It's not the first time experts have called for specialised training for caravanners, with some even suggesting mandatory licences should be required before getting behind the wheel.
Natalie Watson-Brown, whose research at Queensland University of Technology focuses on road safety and education, welcomed the idea of additional licensing when speaking to Yahoo News last year.
"People that tow caravans often drive in diverse, complex environments including unsealed roads, narrow roads and high-speed roads, then to low-speed congested roads," she said "So if some of these factors are contributing to their crashes, then that needs to be important in their training and then in their testing before they get their licence".
This sentiment was echoed by RAC claims manager Glen Walker, who previously told Yahoo News "it is crucial caravan owners prioritise learning how to safely maintain, load and tow their vans".
"It's also critical to keep the caravan balanced, with the correct weight on the tow-hitch, by distributing weight evenly when packing," he added.
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