Bad Crash From Blowout

[mikeyj67]

http://www.nephitimesnews.com/0910/091510/frontpage.pdf


Scroll to the bottom story.

[sidewinder2]

What a terrible accident! I guess my "take-away" is to make sure I continue to travel at 60 mph and make sure my tires are inflated properly and less than six years old from date of manufacture.

[mikeyj67]

Possibly a steering stabilizer would have prevented this.

[1ciderdog]

WOW! Very scary and could probably happen to about anyone. Interestingly, the article says speed was not a factor but it does say they were traveling 75 mph & towing. There is no indication of tire age, pressure, etc.

[RickO]

Originally Posted by 1ciderdog

WOW! Very scary and could probably happen to about anyone. Interestingly, the article says speed was not a factor but it does say they were traveling 75 mph & towing. There is no indication of tire age, pressure, etc.

That is interesting. I can't imagine cruising along at 75 with or without my toad behind me.

[LVJ58]

Good case for cruising a bit slower, not sure a steering stabilizer would have been able to counteract the intense forces involved, but may have helped some. I'm also curious as to the tire brand, age and pressure.

So Tragic.

[gjstacy]

Please check back for more information, as an Alpine owner and retired trucking professional that lives in Utah is going to check on the tire age and try to get as much information as possible for all of us. I will post his findings.

Meanwhile, if you haven't seen this video on how to handle your rig in a blowout situation, please take time to watch this:

YouTube - How to Handle a Tire Blowout in Your RV

It just might save your life!!

[AFChap]

Tough to second-guess a situation, but it sounds to me like speed WAS a factor ...excess speed for the vehicle combination. And when I read the news story it seems the coach was still going pretty fast AFTER it had hit at least two posts, crossed the median, and gone through the fence ...it sounds like the driver was just riding it out rather than trying to stop. Of course, if the cabinets ripped loose and came down on them on the first trip through the median, the driver likely didn't have much chance of controlling anything after that point. It may even have been still on cruise control after it was out of control...

I have an '03 coach. It was delivered with '02 tires which looked perfect when I replaced them just before they turned 7 yr old. It would be interesting to know if they were riding on the original tires ...hopefully we can learn that much.

[takepride]

gjstacey:

Thanks for re-posting the video. I was glad to re-watch it.

I, too, would hope they really weren't going that fast, but it sounds like they were. Even solo, I can't see that 75 mph is safe in a 33,000 pound vehicle, let alone towing another 5,000 pounds. Even though the California towing limit is 55 and other states are more, you'll always see me doing 55. On my way through that stretch of the 15 in June, I was passed by lots of RVers going the legal limit of 75. Crazy.....

It's very sad. But it reiterates my commitment to slower driving.

[gjstacy]

You are welcome, TakePride! I watched it again, too, and passed it to John for him to see again. I agree with all of the statements concerning speed. As primarily the passenger/navigator (except when I'm out alone), I have a fit if my pilot goes much above 60...just ask him, he'll tell you what a nag I am about speed.

I'm embarrassed that my first statement above did not give my sincere condolences to Mrs Roderick. My heart and prayers go out to her. There is no mention of her condition, but I have to believe she sustained injuries as well. But, the loss of her husband must be nearly unbearable.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post tire information later today.

Gail

[SpursMVP]

Thanks for posting the video.

One question....once the driver finds a good spot to pull over (after accelerating and steering to maintain control)....do you then use the brakes to stop? Any special techniques suggested for this?

Thanks again!

[Me n Slowpoke]

As mentioned, they didn't say how bad she was hurt, and it will be devastating for her losing her husband since she was the one driving. It is just human nature to blame ourselves.
I feel that if she was driving 75 mph, with the cruise on, then it was too fast and probably got so scared when the tire blew, she just held on for the ride rather than hit the brake to turn off the cruise. She could have passed out from fright, and have no control.. we never know just what happened unless she can enlighten someone about it.
I will continue to go the speed that I feel is safe at the time, but do not feel that it will be 75 mph in the MH

[mikeyj67]

She was flown to Salt Lake with spinal injuries, but it looks like she is going to be OK. They are not really sure what killed him. He had heart surgery a few weeks before this happened so that may have been a factor. He was totally unresponsive when they removed the cabinets and began attending to him, so it could have been a heart attack. Tragic either way.

[Dave Fernandez]

I am sorry to here that a fellow RV’er losing there life and another being injured in an automobile accident. Only time will tell what all the factors are in relating to the accident. Since it was a fatal a complete investigation will take place although we probably will never hear about the final report of the accident investigation.

Here is my $0.02, in reading the article it was not a blow out but “the left front tire on the RV failed and lost tread” There is no mention that the tire went flat. As mentioned earlier what was the age of the tires?

I think many factors are involved in this terrible accident one it could have been in part a problem with the steering bracket. I think in part that when the tread separated it may have scared/startled the driver which may have caused over correcting or the driver may have gone into a panic stop or both which cause driver to lose of control of the RV.

I think we have to look at a lot of factors including the Toad and if it had supplemental braking, were they working, if the driver applied the brakes did the toad brakes lock up and did it play a part in the loose of control? I can keep adding what if’s but since we did not witness this accident we can only guess on what happened.

Our prayer’s go out to the Roderick family.