Be wheely careful
By Senior Constable Mick Emery
To say to someone that “the wheels have fallen off” is a typically Australian way of saying that things have gone bad…
But, for one unfortunate Rainbow Beach local recently, it took on a literal meaning as he was driving back from Gympie – with a wheel physically falling off his car.
Imagine the passenger’s horror as she looked out her window and saw a wheel rolling along beside the car (and then her dawning realisation that the wheel was actually supposed to be attached to the vehicle in which she was travelling!).
Fortunately, cool heads prevailed and the car was brought to a safe stop on the remaining three wheels – a result that could have been much worse.
Interestingly, this is the third incident that I have attended between here and Gympie in which a wheel has become detached from a vehicle – and on all occasions the make and model of the vehicle has been the same.
Now it’s probably not for me to suggest that a particular vehicle is prone to its wheels falling off (suffice to say that it is one of the most common vehicles in Rainbow Beach) but they also had one other significant factor in common – plenty of time on the beach.
It goes without saying that the beach takes its toll on our vehicles. Despite our best rust-proofing efforts, a beach truck is eventually going to share the same fate as the Cherry Venture…
No one likes throwing money at a depreciating asset, and most of us can imagine a continuum: between “worth fixing” at one end and “cost-prohibitive” at the other…
But can I suggest that if you are letting your car get to the point where the wheels are falling off – you are probably pushing that envelope a little bit too far…
Perhaps the above incident is a timely reminder for us all to get our vehicles checked for roadworthiness. Compliance checks are regularly conducted in both Rainbow Beach and Inskip Point – with defects attracting fines and / or immediate removal from the road.
It’s all part of the campaign to ‘put the brakes’ on road trauma…
