At 7 am on Wednesday 18 February, 36 APIA members gathered at the Sargent offices in Brisbane to attend the APIA 4WD Safety Day. The event was designed to focus on 4WD safety, including an in-depth look at electronic stability control (ESC) and driver behaviour in both sealed and off-road locations.

After breakfast and a briefing by Kevin Williams from Australian 4WD & Advanced Driver Education, the participants departed for Bribie Island in 14 4WD vehicles, ten of which were generously provided by Sargent, two by Toyota Australia and two by Nissan Australia. With the traffic safely negotiated, the morning was spent driving on the beach at Bribie Island and learning how to recover bogged vehicles in a safe and controlled manner.

The two instructors from Australian 4WD continuously impressed upon the team the need to take care; respect the terrain and the vehicles; and to remain focused. This last concept could certainly be applied to Sargent Major Accounts and Project Manager Ed Burrows, who worked overtime to help recover one of the deliberately bogged vehicles that didn’t want to break free!

Following lunch, the convoy drove for an hour to Dayboro and the Mount Mee forest tracks, where everyone was put through a gruelling, hour-long passage along a narrow, wet, slippery track with very steep inclines and declines. The lessons learnt in the morning paid off, and everyone successfully negotiated the track, finally meeting up at the base of the mountain.

Article continues below…

From there, all the vehicles travelled back into Brisbane and finished at the Lawton Showgrounds. Here, Kevin showed the team what the ESC is designed to do. APIA’s drivers were keen to feel the difference between the vehicles fitted with ESC and those without, and were given the chance to find out in a controlled skid environment. Participants left with the resolve that ESC should be fitted to all vehicles, whether they be 4WDs or passenger cars.

The teams arrived back at the Sargent offices at 6 pm and went their separate ways, knowing that it had been a successful day, and satisfied with their new understanding and experience of safe 4WD driving behaviour.

APIA gratefully acknowledges and thanks the team at Sargent for provision of vehicles and all of the many other measures that Grant Harrison, Peter Goopy and Ed Burrows took to ensure the smooth workings of the day; Toyota Australia and Nissan Australia for the provision of vehicles; and Kevin and Jan Williams at Australian 4WD & Advanced Driver Education for the excellent management of the specially-prepared program. APIA will be working with its members in Western Australia to set up another 4WD safety day in Perth in the first half of 2009.