Motorhome -- 18-Wheeler Crash Highlight Safety Issues
A family making a holiday run in their motorhome came to grief the day before Christmas, making another footnote in the "safety" column.It happened in California's Fresno County on a fog shrouded roadway. The motorhome driver pulled the family Winnebago to the shoulder of the road, and then attempted to make a U-turn across the avenue. What he apparently didn't see in the fog was an oncoming 18-wheeler. The results were predictably disastrous. All four riders in the motorhome were tossed out of what was left of the motorhome and sadly, five-year-old Joshua Lopez, Jr., didn't make it away alive.
California fogs are notorious for their part in accidents. Trying to make a U-turn with a motorhome in a fog is inarguably seeking a calamity, and without a doubt the driver will spend the rest of his life chewing on the "if onlys" of the situation. But perhaps the saddest detail of all, the investigating officers with the California Highway Patrol noted that none of the motorhome's occupants were wearing a seat belt. Maybe it wouldn't have made the difference, perhaps the forces in the crash wouldn't been too great. But statistically speaking, there's a much better chance that Joshua would be here today had he been buckled in.
Don't let the "recreational" part of your RV dull your senses. Please click that buckle.
Photo: KSEE.COM
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Labels: crash safety, rv accidents, seat belts
posted by Russ and Tiña De Maris at
12/26/2007 09:01:00 AM
9 Comments:
Seat belt? Are you kidding?!!!
One look at the picture and it's easy to see why RV's are the MOST DANGEROUS vehicles operating on the roadway today.
No RV is designed to survive a rollover. No RV is designed to withstand a suddens stop without it's contents moving around the interior or leaving the interior of the RV.
RV's are sticks & staples. Nothing more. They have only enough "engineering" invested in them to move down a normal highway (washboard roads excluded) and live in once stopped. Survival of any type of accident is not part of the "design" program for any RV on the road.
If you want to travel in something that does include the engineering to provide space to survive in the event of an accident, then tow your RV behind an automobile, truck, or van. Those vehicles are required to meet DOT specifications for crash safety. RV's do not.
By
Anonymous, at 5:38 AM, January 12, 2008
Amen, brother. Ever see an airbag in a Class A?
Get a 5ver for safety. Or at least a Class C.
By
Anonymous, at 7:29 AM, January 12, 2008
How tragic for the family. However, anyone can see from the picture that if Joshua had been buckled in, he would have been right in the middle of the twisted metal wreck and not survived. I do believe strongly in seat belts, but doubt one would have saved Joshua. My prayers go out to his family.
By
Anonymous, at 8:39 AM, January 12, 2008
I agree that RVs (read Motor Homes) are not the safest units in a crash, but, one wonders if they would have had any better fate if they were driving any thing else into the path of the loaded tanker semi??.. I'm sure that all the safety and airbags built into the well renowned "Volvo" wouldn't have saved them either... Sometimes physics take control after stupidity leads us into the situation.
By
Walter, at 10:22 AM, January 12, 2008
I have a class C with three Roll Bars in the Coach. I feel that does give further safety as well as the seat belts and air bags
By
Anonymous, at 11:30 AM, January 12, 2008
Maybe I'm a bozo and will probably stir up all kinds of trouble by saying this, but why don't Motor-homes have Airbags? I don't know of any trucks having them either and I'm a former trucker, but most of the time they are fairly safe to be in, in an accident. I wonder though just how many lives could have been saved if there were airbags deployed when a truck or RV caught fire in a wreck? Seatbelts are mandatory in both, so why not airbags? It's hard to believe we would not want to pay the extra cost for added safety when WE are the ones who made them put them in cars and pick-ups. I own a '77 model Class A that I know exempts me from useing and having seat belts in it, but by the time I finish refurbishing it, it will have seatbelts installed. I do agree that there is no cure for stupidity and the child would have died no matter what and now BOTH drivers have to live with that.
By
desertratdan, at 5:00 PM, January 12, 2008
Having lived in the San Joaquin Valley many years while at NAS Lemoore, 30 miles south of Fresno, I spent many winters with the "Tule Fog". The Air Station had signs for 15 or 25 mph limits when the fog came. The only really safe thing to do if you don't like driving in the for is get off the road. Trying to Uturn etc is going to get you hurt because many drivers don't understand anything about slowing in reduced visibility or traction situations. All the safety equipment in the world won't help you if you get T-boned by a semi doing 70mph.
By
Anonymous, at 10:20 AM, January 14, 2008
Our Jayco 36fs has airbags. Things are changing when it comes to safety and bigger RV's. I think it just depends on the type of chassis it's built on.
Airbags would not have helped here. I feel really bad for the family.
By
PillFreeVitamins, at 7:53 AM, January 16, 2008
Maybe you've overlooked the Bluebird class A coaches??? They're designed for multiple rollovers as well as other impacts. Maybe no airbags, but they have been designed for safety. If I could afford one, that's what I'd have. but, no vehicle I know of is safe from a T-bone at 45-70 mph by a semi with a full load on.
By
Anonymous, at 8:57 AM, January 18, 2008
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