Community Forums

RiverBurt · 07-11-2019, 05:29 PM

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

These aren’t airplanes losing an engine at 20,000 feet.

There’s no time for any of this crap.

richard5933 · 07-11-2019, 05:53 PM

There won't be time to yell anything. Nothing. Nada.

We were hit head on a couple of years ago while driving our coach on a two-lane state road in Iowa. An oncoming driver fell asleep at the wheel of his Honda.

I had a dash cam running which captured the whole thing which allowed me to see the actual elapsed time. It felt like an eternity, but from the time I saw him cross the center line until the point of impact was less than two seconds.

We were both seated and belted in at the time, thank God. If not, even if I could have gotten out a word of warning, there simply would not be time for my co-pilot to have taken any emergency action.

These things happen in a split second. When we are underway now, we are in our seats and belted in. Co-pilot does make occasional runs to the bathroom and fridge, but we minimize that as much as is possible. Before the accident it was common for one of us to nap on the couch while underway, but no more.

tom chelbana · 07-11-2019, 06:34 PM

Maybe the key point of this post is for all passengers to stay in their seats with seat belts on for there safety as much as possible. Because the law says passenger don't need to have seat belts on when traveling down the road shouldn't encourage people to be up and out of there seat.
Newmar Man

Isaac-1 · 07-11-2019, 10:27 PM

Every accident is different, it does not hurt to have a safety word in case the driver has enough warning for it to make a difference. While I have never been in an accident in an RV, a bit over a year ago my wife and I got hit at a blind intersection near our house, a teenager in a Chevy Yukon ran the red light at about 35 mph and sent us spinning (impact just forward of the drivers side front wheel). This happened in light rain about a couple of hours after sunset, all I saw was a flash of headlights and BANG, I barely had time to start to lift my foot off the accelerator, I tried to swerve but doubt I had moved over more than a foot or so when he hit.

RVThere · 07-12-2019, 07:29 AM

https://yellowstoneinsider.com/2019/06/13/4469/

This happened a few weeks ago. My son was one of the first responders.

Oncoming vehicle caused RV to swerve, got caught up on the shoulder, and went up an embankment, and rolled over. Deceased son was in the cabover area. Not sure if other son was in seatbelt or not.

It changed my perspective on 'free to move about the cabin'...

FLJOE · 07-12-2019, 09:03 AM

You give yourself the best chance of survival by wearing the seat belt. A violent hit from behind, a head on, a roll over, any one of these can throw a body straight out threw a window. I have been at crash scenes where the victims shoes were still in the driver's or passenger's floor but their body was 40 yards away in a field.

Dutch Star Don · 07-12-2019, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richard5933

There won't be time to yell anything. Nothing. Nada.

We were hit head on a couple of years ago while driving our coach on a two-lane state road in Iowa. An oncoming driver fell asleep at the wheel of his Honda.

I had a dash cam running which captured the whole thing which allowed me to see the actual elapsed time. It felt like an eternity, but from the time I saw him cross the center line until the point of impact was less than two seconds.

We were both seated and belted in at the time, thank God. If not, even if I could have gotten out a word of warning, there simply would not be time for my co-pilot to have taken any emergency action.

These things happen in a split second. When we are underway now, we are in our seats and belted in. Co-pilot does make occasional runs to the bathroom and fridge, but we minimize that as much as is possible. Before the accident it was common for one of us to nap on the couch while underway, but no more.

Some seem to forget that all of us on here have been driving for many years. To make a blanket statement that there will be no time to say or yell anything is totally inaccurate and could cost someone their life unnecessarily. The last 15 years that I worked, I drove 50K miles a year, most in everyday traffic. If you're an ALERT and DEFENSIVE driver, you can see a lot of accidents coming, make evasive maneuvers and get yourself out of a bad situation and avoid an accident.

There will always be an accident that happens quickly, but not every accident. Our plan to drop and sit may not work, depending on how the accident evolves, but it's better than throwing your arms in the air and yelling aw sh**.

Daveinet · 07-12-2019, 12:46 PM

I wish I could find it, but a few years ago on a motorcycle forum, a poster linked to a traffic situational awareness test. The test consisted of displaying about 20 photos for 5 seconds each, and then asking about the hazards after each photo was displayed. At the time I was still driving back and forth to Chicago every day. I found I was very quick to recognize the potential hazards. Not putting as many miles on 2 wheels as I used to, I'm not sure I would do as well on the test. But it does go to show, with experience, you do learn to second guess that hazards pretty well. For instance, you can often tell when someone pulls up to an intersection, if they are going to pull out, just by how they approach the intersection and where they stop.

On Edit: It was presented by MSF, however the test is no longer on their site.

richard5933 · 07-12-2019, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

Some seem to forget that all of us on here have been driving for many years. To make a blanket statement that there will be no time to say or yell anything is totally inaccurate and could cost someone their life unnecessarily. The last 15 years that I worked, I drove 50K miles a year, most in everyday traffic. If you're an ALERT and DEFENSIVE driver, you can see a lot of accidents coming, make evasive maneuvers and get yourself out of a bad situation and avoid an accident.

There will always be an accident that happens quickly, but not every accident. Our plan to drop and sit may not work, depending on how the accident evolves, but it's better than throwing your arms in the air and yelling aw sh**.

Sure, you can see many things coming. But, it's the one you can't see that will get you. I don't care how many years you have been driving - some things will catch you off guard.

There is nothing I said earlier that is going to put anyone in more danger or make them less safe. Quite the contrary, my point was to remain seated and buckled in as much as possible. My point was that relying on a code word is foolish if that's all you've got. Sure, it might be helpful for when it's necessary to get out of the seat, but it's not a good substitute for being buckled in.

Yeah, I know I sound like my father. But it comes from decades of driving and more close calls than I care to remember.

Dutch Star Don · 07-12-2019, 03:09 PM

Your quote....."There won't be time to yell anything. Nothing. Nada."

I understood and comprehended EXACTLY what you said and wrote and it was wrong! I also said that it wouldn't work in every instance. I can name at least a half dozen times that I saw dust flying in traffic ahead of me, knew EXACTLY what was happening, and positioned my vehicle to stay out of the pile up. Maybe you don't have those skills.....that's too bad!

tom chelbana · 07-12-2019, 03:19 PM

We posted this suggestion to high light how important is for all passengers to be aware that when they are out of the their seat and not seat belted in they are a lot more likely to be in danger and we think the message has been sent. Taught driver training for 5 years and drag raced for 15 years in Pro Stock up to 1985 at speeds close to 200 mph.
Newmar Man

richard5933 · 07-12-2019, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

Your quote....."There won't be time to yell anything. Nothing. Nada."

I understood and comprehended EXACTLY what you said and wrote and it was wrong! I also said that it wouldn't work in every instance. I can name at least a half dozen times that I saw dust flying in traffic ahead of me, knew EXACTLY what was happening, and positioned my vehicle to stay out of the pile up. Maybe you don't have those skills.....that's too bad!

Not sure why you feel the need to be insulting and criticize my driving skills. I don't think we know each other beyond interacting on this thread, so how about taking it down a notch.

If you've got time to give a warning, then by all means do so. My point is that when things go wrong they often do so in a split second. No amount of driving skills will prevent every accident. Our head on collision was less than 2 seconds start to finish. I've had deer fly out of the woods and into the hood of the car in less time than that.

Not sure what's wrong about saying that you won't have time to give a warning in situations like this. Not sure what's dangerous about knowing the reality of the situation.

tom chelbana · 07-12-2019, 06:13 PM

There is time to plan and think about passenger safety when traveling down the road and we should all agree on that.
We know some long time Newmar owners who talk about changing drivers while traveling and using cruise control. This is not safe for both of them and the rest of us on the road.
Newmar Man

FLJOE · 07-13-2019, 09:08 AM

In 34 years of being a LEO I never once talked to the folks involved in a serious crash and had them tell me "yea, when I left the house this morning I knew I was going to have a horrible wreck". In other words, no matter how good of a driver you are or what precautions you take it can happen.

This has been a good thread and interesting to follow. It gets everyone thinking about safety on the road.