Are Class A dangerous?

[gemini5362]

Originally Posted by darstar

I like the seat belt thoughts, however I am not aware of any " law" that requires them in a MH. My guess is, like school buses there is no requirement. Many older units do not have them ether. If anyone is aware of the requirement to wear belts , I would like to know ?

My limited knowledge ( I really mean limited) tells me that seat belts have to be used if they were put in the vehicle when it was manufactured. Pre- 1968 vehicles ( Please dont flame me if I have the year wrong. I am older and forget sometimes) In the united states are not required. If you have a vehicle that was built with them and someone took them out you have to put them back in and use them when you drive. I am sure that to some extent motor homes are in the same category. Passenger and driver for sure have to wear them. When It comes to someone sitting on a couch or in a chair behind the driver I think whether they have to or not legally is a moot point. My couch has lap belts not shoulder harnesses. I do not know any way that the state could prove someone was sitting on that couch without a seat belt on.

This is not saying to have or not have seat belts. That is not for me to decide and I am sure not going to add another ten pages to this post from a recomendation. Just pointing out what I percieve to be the legality of it.

[CampDaven]

My rig has 3 lap belts on the dinette and 2 on the couch. Shoulder straps are only good for forward facing seats, me thinks.

And class A's are truely dangerous!
Most that have had them NEVER GO BACK. Your wallet will thank you for the frequent excercise.

[RVNeophytes2]

Originally Posted by Name Removed

Yes, driving slow because your vehicle is unstable is an accident waiting to happen.

There was a big assumption made here, that I was suggesting someone in a design vulnerable to winds or passing rigs might be wise to impede traffic.

I think 90% of readers understand what was said, hope no one else took my suggestion take into consideration such vulnerability out of context.

In any case, traffic law, traffic flow, driver skill and vehicle capabilities should all be kept in harmony. I think every person here is capable of doing that.

Good judgement is all you need.

That comes from a former military safety officer, instructor pilot, professional airline pilot, author of numerous military and civilian safety-related articles.

[JFXG]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ARTWERKE
Yes a class A motor home is dangerous. But not enough to cause me to abandon RVing... Racing motorcycles was dangerous,... old English sports cars, sail boats & 60mph bass boats. Let danger temper your choices, not dictate them & enjoy life.


I'll add to your comment, ARTWERKE, because everything is perception. In my primary career I was a pilot. When my airline died, I spent my last 6 years flying industrial freight world-wide. One of my brothers loved to talk with me about the flying, because he thought I had about the most dangerous job anyone could have. This man- my brother- who thought my job was dangerous, was a professional diver employed by a very large and well-known aquarium on the east coast. Every work day would find him going into their giant ocean tank several times and feeding sharks by hand. Its simple, he said, the sharks aren't really hungry, they'll just eat what we put in front of them. If we let them get really hungry, they'll eat the other fish. That's why we feed them.

Its all in what you know, what you're comfortable with.

[wa8yxm]

Two things that affect the accident stats.

ONE: Many RVers, epically full timers like me, are older (I'm old enough to get Social Security) (I do not care to give my real age and the birthday listed in my profile is false, and always will be, Security issue). And thus one has to ask.

Did the RVer die due to the crash or crash due to being dead already? NOTE: I was a police dispatcher.. The news usually reports "Freeway Death" But it may take weeks before the police close the investigation "Driver suffered heart attack, died and then lost control" The news hardly ever reports the follow up, after all, Like the big story this month it's old news.. (Very old news in this case but that is not a topic here, You note I did not name the story).

That may be why the Revised info on the cited study went the other way around.

Also, many older "patients" (Word chosen carefully) have medical issues.. For example I am diabetic, Use insulin, Can not drive a SEMI legally because of that.

BUT... I can drive a motor home.. If I should go HYPO.. Well then I'm for all the world a drunk driver.. Now.. This I know and I have a whole lot of training, So I'm do my very best to avoid hypo. So far I've been successful.

Another issue: We tend to drive "Long distance" on occasion in our RV.. Get tired, fall asleep.

On Easter Sunday, My wife was driving our newlly acquired Jeep (The tow bar came in the next day) following me camp to camp.. She drifted off the road, over corrected getting back on, went to the left, over corrected again, to the right, back to the left and WHAM hit a tree.. That's all she wrote folks.

The question is: Did she fall asleep before she drifted onto the shoulder the first time? Since its' kind of hard to tell we will never know.

But I know we were both a bit tired.. I was still good to drive (As evidenced by my still being able to type this) but I was in the motor home.

Oh, I have an opening for travel companion.,

[darstar]

I was just talking to a fellow RV guy here in Duluth, he was from SC. I can not say anything about his driving, but he did tell me that he had a "special" drivers lisence which was required in SC for MHs over 26,000. Firsts state I ever heard of requiring such. It was not a CDL , as it was a state only thing.
Anyone care to comment on this? The driver safty issue has been discussed for years in many places, however first I have heard it was required in the US.

[flaggship1]

Search Texas Class B.

[darstar]

Originally Posted by flaggship1

Search Texas Class B.

I wonder if other states have same laws? Seems to me a CCL for everyone should be required.?

[RickO]

Originally Posted by darstar

I wonder if other states have same laws? Seems to me a CCL for everyone should be required.?

Yep, a handful of other states do require non commercial endorsements to drive certain big rigs.

I agree that requiring special test for drivers of large RVs would be a good idea.

rick

[flaggship1]

Originally Posted by darstar

I wonder if other states have same laws? Seems to me a CCL for everyone should be required.?

I suspect most will agree with RickO on special requirement for large Motorhomes. So I will take the contrarian view, for a brief moment.

By the time most people go to take the test, they may be anxious, but fairly confident they're going to pass the drivers portion of the test. That's the critical part of the testing from my perspective. Given the small number of RV driving schools scattered around the country, most have already put unlicensed, unsupervised miles on their coach somewhere.

If you read this and other threads on the drivers portion of the Texas Class B you will find that what is tested behind the wheel varies greatly by location. Some have to parallel park, some back up 100 feet, some drive around the block and some have to get on the freeway. So even with the behind the wheel you have a variety of "tested" expertise. As for the parallel parking and 100 foot backup - passing it on the test may be the last time you ever do it. Highly unlikely that anyone would do it often enough to remain proficient - and with routine driving experience you will become more competent with such things anyway. You would hopefully have a spotter in such cases anyway. I know some travel solo and would not have a companion spotter, but again - rare event for most - not that difficult for an experienced driver.

The essential difference between the Class B and regular written drivers test is air bakes and how they work. That's a need to know so that makes sense. But making a two day outing of it in most TX locations - written one day and driving the next or another day is kind of silly. You could just go online (or in person) and take the air break test, pay a small fee and your current license amended and sent to you with the same expiration date.

As for going full CDL - you always have that option. The behind the wheel is the same but the written contains parts that most won't need.

So that's the contrarian view. My personal view is pretty close to that but it is what it is. Make sure you're properly licensed in your state and you're good to go anywhere. I know there are some who would object to a Federal Law being imposed on driving their Motorhome and some would support it. YMMV

Wonder how all those farm boys learn to drive combines and every other kind a big thing under the sun without a parallel parking test. Ok - I know. Running over a scarecrow isn't a risk to anyone, but there are plenty of bad drivers with a license, so passing a test doesn't guarantee much. No substitute for experience. As little as some drive - they relearn every time they get behind the wheel.
JMHO
Steve

[Barbaraok]

Originally Posted by darstar

I was just talking to a fellow RV guy here in Duluth, he was from SC. I can not say anything about his driving, but he did tell me that he had a "special" drivers lisence which was required in SC for MHs over 26,000. Firsts state I ever heard of requiring such. It was not a CDL , as it was a state only thing.
Anyone care to comment on this? The driver safty issue has been discussed for years in many places, however first I have heard it was required in the US.

We have ours from Texas. Lots of states have them, though Class A salesmen don't seem to know about or don't care to tell prospective purchasers about the requirements.

Barb

[Barbaraok]

Originally Posted by JFXG

Like..... Walmart, JCPenney, your doctor, grocery stores, Amazon, Home Depot, your church......??

Sorry, Barb..... I like your posts, but the simple fact is that if you need to make an important decision, you need information to structure that decision. If you don't have all the information in the world stored on your personal computer, then you have to acquire the pertinent information somewhere else, often by buying it. The guy that runs RVCG clearly has a bit of an ax to grind with some RV manufacturers, but his biases all lean him toward conservative decision making (which is usually safer), and both his and other's mechanical and design analyses regarding wheelbase and chassis design make sense from an engineering point of view. I don't know if he RVs or not, but it really doesn't matter. If he has the info I need, and its not easily accessible elsewhere, I'll gladly pay him for it.

His mechanical and design analyses - - you are saying that he is a mechanical engineer? Really?

What information does he have that you can't get? His "ratings" where he takes information from brochures/websites and puts them into a spreadsheet and uses his "formulas" to generate ratings?

But it is your money.

Best information from owners of the type of rig that you are thinking about getting. When we had narrowed down to a couple of brands I read everything on the owners forums of thoses brands here and ask lots of questions. The feedback was incredible.

Barb

[poppopc]

They are only as dangerous as the driver.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Barbaraok

We have ours from Texas. Lots of states have them, though Class A salesmen don't seem to know about or don't care to tell prospective purchasers about the requirements.

Barb

I'm not sure it's "Lots of states", more like "Some states". For instance WA and OR don't require anything but your standard license that I've had for over 50 years.