Bizzare RV Mishap

[j-d]

C's are a little safer than A's in a front end crash. But this accident ripped the side open and a passenger was ejected through the hole.
I-75 in Sumter County. That's near the junction with Florida Turnpike.

[maillemaker]

This is one of my big fears with my kids in the RV. They travel in the back and are usually seated at the kitchen table. We require seatbelts at all times and I try to get them to sit to the inside of the RV rather than against the outside wall.

Steve

[ron_dittmer]

That is a sad story.

Maybe the driver fell asleep at the wheel. But maybe a strong gust of a cross wind pushed the rig into the guard rail. As with most class C's, it is unlikely the rig was equipped with heavy duty front and rear stabilizer bars and a heavy duty steering stabilizer. Those upgrades might have prevented the accident.

I don't appreciate unwarranted government regulation, but I do feel the NTSB should require chassis manufactures to equip all cut-away chassis with heavy duty front & rear stabilizer bars along with a heavy duty steering stabilizer. The additional cost would be negligible, but it would make every motor home and box truck much safer, regardless of the endless variety of weight distributions, wind-catching shapes, and wheel-base to length ratios.

[CharlesinGA]

Gee wiz info on the Texas bridge.

https://bridgehunter.com/tx/jasper/201220021308074/

Not sure if the width (23½ ft) is just the road bed or includes the curbs. Bridges always tend to look narrow, and old ones (1943) generally are. I've crossed bridges on the Mississippi that have lanes 10 ft wide.

Bad way to have your vacation ruined......

Charles

[BurbMan]

Was early in the morning, maybe he dozed off? They were headed south and the driver was just north of his home in Bradenton. Had to the last thing the passenger expected when he dozed off on the dinette.

[DrewE]

It's a very sad situation indeed.

Looks like (in the Florida accident) the guardrail hit the front left corner of the cab section, and then scraped along the left side. The article says he lost control and then struck the guardrail. There could be lots of causes of losing control. It does show how little extra structure there is in many RV walls (of most any RV class/type).

The Texas one may be one or both drivers going a bit fast across the narrow bridge, not expecting to meet another fairly wide vehicle there. Goodness knows it's plenty easy to do that sort of thing on roads where there's little traffic volume. We all need to be alert and to drive with due care for the situation; the results of doing otherwise can be terrible.

[K_Charles]

If he hit a guardrail on the left side there is more to that story then we know.

[navegator]

C class units are wider behind the cab and people tend to judge the vehicle with the hood rather than the actual with, leading to scrapes with walls barriers and even tend to hog the center line

navegator

[rhagfo]

Isaac-1 wrote:
Wow second similar incident this week http://www.kjas.com/news/local_news/article_e6923066-181b-11e8-b662-83599dc96d7b.html
RV accident in Texas last week

Looks like a somewhat narrow bridge, based on the story sounds like the driver of the truck crossed the center line. Either drifted that way, or was afraid of hitting the side of the bridge.

[rhagfo]

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Story on Florida accident.

Very sad, looks like the dinette was made down into a bed at the time. Likely the passenger was sleeping at the time.

[Mortimer_Brewst]

Story on Florida accident.

[Isaac-1]

Wow second similar incident this week http://www.kjas.com/news/local_news/article_e6923066-181b-11e8-b662-83599dc96d7b.html
RV accident in Texas last week