Doofus Of The Day #946

Today’s award goes to the hapless driver of a Range Rover on the Fraser Island ferry in Australia.  A tip o’ the hat to reader Snoggeramus for the link.

Shocking video has emerged of a four-wheel-drive rolling off a barge and into the waters between Fraser Island and the mainland on Saturday morning.

. . .

Tourist Katrina Lawrence, who was aboard the barge, said the incident was “quite bizarre”.

She said the boat was departing from Inskip Point at Rainbow Beach, about 150 kilometres north of the Sunshine Coast, on its way to the island and was about a quarter of the way across the Great Sandy Strait.

Ms Lawrence said the 4WD, which was part of an adventure tours group, began sliding off the barge about 11am, causing panic on the boat.

One man tried to stop the vehicle by grabbing onto it with his one free hand, but because he was wearing thongs he slid across the deck with the car.

“There was no way they could have grabbed it, it was a slow roll but a heavy car,” Ms Lawrence said.

There was widespread panic onboard the vessel and concerned patrons rushed to check whether their vehicles were secure.

Only one vehicle was lost and about 30 seconds later Ms Lawrence said the 4WD sank.

There’s more at the link.  Here’s the video.

The handbrake is there for a reason . . . just sayin’ . . .

(I’d also like to know why the barge’s ramp was still in the down position.  If it had been up, the vehicle wouldn’t have been able to roll off.  I suspect a crew member may also have been a doofus . . . )

Peter

8 comments

  1. There have been cases of car (or rail car) ferrys being sunk by heavy weather because the ramps were left down. Doofus x2.

  2. All the Washington State Ferries block the ends of the vehicle deck with heavy webbing nets while under weigh that would contain passenger vehicles. Furthermore the vehicles closest to the ends get their wheels chocked to prevent them from rolling regardless of what the driver does with brakes. It all seems like sensible precautions to me but Aussie risk management seems to be view things differently.

  3. If you look at the pictures at the link one shows clearly "BOW LOCKING PINS MUST BE ENGAGED WHEN UNDERWAY". The captain is at fault got underway before completing the Sea and Anchor Detail.

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