Motorhome speedsters to get tap on shoulder

Automated warnings that dramatically reduced motorhome speeding in Australia is being extended to Tourism Holdings’ entire fleet world wide.

THL chief executive Grant Webster said the two-year trial in Australia had reduced speeding incidents by 70 per cent, and repair and maintenance costs had dropped by a quarter, earning the company a safety award from the Australian Fleet Management Association.

Automated messages warn drivers when they are over the speed limit, braking too hard, coming up to low overpasses or bridges, or might be fatigued.

The plan now was to put the system – currently in 1400 motorhomes and campervans – into all 4000 THL rental vehicles in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and US by 2020.

Webster said the telemetrics also provided geo-location data so the company could track the whereabouts of its vehicles, which had proved useful in the case of natural disasters such as cyclones and bushfires.

‘‘We can identify where customers are and have been able to contact them and say ‘you’re heading towards a bushfire zone, please turn back,’ and we can watch and track, and make sure they do.’’

He said the tracking technology would have been helpful during the Kaikoura earthquake when the company had 50 vehicles among more than 300 motorhomes trapped by massive slips along State Highway 1.

Many motorhome users holidaying in New Zealand are not accustomed to driving on the left, and new technology may eventually help prevent crashes caused by them veering onto the wrong side of the road.

THL is trialling about a dozen German-made motorhomes with lane detection systems that warn drivers when they cross the white line, but Webster said the system was very expensive and not entirely proven.

‘‘It will come.’’