OFF ROAD SAFETY
Going bush-bashing, off on a camping trip, or taking the fourbie out to a remote fishing spot?
BE PREPARED
Put Pilbara Towing’s 24 hour hotline number – that’s 0407380407 into your satellite phone speed-dial or your mobile phone book.
Write it down to keep handy in your glovebox.
Trust us – when you’re in a tight spot, you’ll need to reach us fast, and you don’t want to be stuck looking for the number when the tide is lapping at the tyres or you’re sinking in a billabong.
It should really go without saying that if you’re going off-road, make sure you’re well prepared BEFORE you leave. Always carry a mobile phone, a satellite phone, EPIRB, GPS, radio, extra supplies of fuel, water and food, equipment to recover from blowouts/breakdowns/bogs, first-aid kits, and anything else you might need in the event of a hold-up or emergency. Always make sure you let someone know where you’re going and when you expect to get there, so they can raise the alarm if something goes wrong. If you do get stranded, stay with your vehicle, alert the necessary authorities, and get in touch with Pilbara Towing on 0407 38 0407. We’ll get a recovery vehicle out to you as fast as possible.
KNOW YOUR TIDES
With 6-10 metre tides in our region, rapid recovery is essential for many of our coastal rescues. Don’t waste time when the tide is already washing around your ankles or if your sandbar has been cut off from land. In the Pilbara and Kimberley the tide usually rises at well over a metre every hour, and if you’re stuck in a subtidal area when the tide is on the way in, it won’t take long at all to overcome and disable your vehicle. Incoming tidal currents can be strong and very unpredictable, and once the water rises too far or you are cut off from land by the incoming tide it can be good-bye forever to your vehicle – not to mention hello to a very dangerous situation where your own safety is at risk. Call Pilbara Towing on 0407 38 0407 to get you and your vehicle out of harm’s way while the going is still good.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
If your vehicle is stuck out in the Pilbara’s enormous desert regions and remote areas, where life support is at a minimum and daytime temperatures regularly exceed 50 degrees Celcuis, speed of recovery is critical.
The Pilbara’s weather is, at best, highly unpredictable. Your environment can change very suddenly, in ways you’d never expect. Off exploring an ancient bone-dry rocky gully in the 4×4? Wet weather occurring hundreds of kilometres away can turn your nice dry gully into a deep raging river in minutes. Crossing a ford on a perfectly safe-looking bitumen road? A flash flood at the wrong instant can sweep your vehicle right off the road and leave it 300 metres downstream in a tree. Driving over a solid-looking stretch of red dirt? It might be just a thin crust over a 3 metre deep bog which will suck your whole vehicle down like quicksand. Testing out your grip on the side of that awesome sand dune? A gust of desert wind at the wrong moment can flip your vehicle and leave you upside down buried in red-hot sand.
In short, there is really no end to the ways that our beautiful but harsh landscape can put you in a tight spot. But Pilbara Towing is there to help with all the tricks that it can throw at you. Off-Road Vehicle Recovery is provided throughout the entire Pilbara, including 80 Mile Beach, the Canning Stock Route, Rudal River National Park and Karijini.
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