Wicked Campers’ vehicles are death traps, says safety campaigner

The government should take action against the vehicles rented out by rogue firms like Wicked Campers, rather than merely focussing on the slogans painted on the outside, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says a number of the Wicked Campers’ vehicles are ‘death traps’.

“As a parent, I’m appalled by the offensive slogans painted on these vehicles. As a parent, I’m also appalled that young tourists who rent these vehicles may die unnecessarily.”

Matthew-Wilson says vehicles similar to the ones promoted by Wicked Campers have been implicated in a number of fatal accidents.

“Many of the ‘iconic’ vans advertised on the Wicked Campers' website are 1990-99 Toyota Estimas, similar to the one involved in a fatal accident near Turangi in May 2012. These vans lack most modern safety features, including Electronic Stability Control, and, on early versions, even airbags.”

Electronic Stability Control was made compulsory on new light passenger and goods vehicles from July 1, 2015, but Matthew-Wilson says it should be compulsory on all rental vehicles.

“Accidents that begin with a slight loss of control are common on older vehicles. Electronic Stability Control reduces your chances of a fatal collision by up to 56% .”

Matthew-Wilson also took a swing at the Nissan Caravan promoted on the front page of Wicked Campers’ website.

"This vehicle, which was also sold under the name of Urvan, had one of the worst results ever in Australian crash tests, and so did the Mitsubishi L300, which is also featured prominently in the Wicked Campers’ website."

Matthew-Wilson says young drivers, and older vehicles, feature frequently in tourist crashes.

“Wicked Campers are promoting unsafe vehicles as fun and cool. This is simply wrong. The government is looking at ways of reining in this irresponsible company; a good start would be to ban their cars.”

ends

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