Accident rates

I'd like to see a comparison of general RV accidents to boat and utility trailer accidents. I've seen quite a few boat trailer accidents around here, but it's been a long time since I've seen a TT/FW/MH accident.

I've only seen a single horse trailer accident around here about 10 years ago, and it's something I never want to see again. It occurred where SR 8 and US 101 meet just west of Olympia. Somebody took a curve too fast and put the horse trailer on the side. Simply awful.

So many people tell me how well their TT or 5th tows.... "can't even feel it back there at 75mph" "Was cruising at 80mph and it felt great" "lol, we made GREAT time getting home!"... and on and on.

I try to politely bring up sway, tire blowouts, etc but usually it just goes in one ear and out the other. What's gets me is that a lot of these folks are experienced with trailers, trucks, heavy equipment and towing in general - but get them on the highway with a camper, and zoom!

I slowed down one friend by pointing out the potential fuel mileage increase by slowing down. He didn't believe me, until he tried it, and was amazed. Now he tows right around 65mph.

Dutch_12078 wrote:
When I was in the towing/recovery business for a number of years, we cleaned up significantly more 5'ver and TT accident scenes than we did motorhomes. With a somewhat educated guess, I'd say easily half of the non-MH accidents were caused by a combination of "not enough truck" syndrome and driver inexperience.

X2
For every 'experienced' driver that knows how to tow and tows with a proper vehicle,.....

there are 10 others on the road who just picked up their 'first' RV TT/FW and have 'never towed before' and of course add to that dangerous equation the salesman that sold it to them that said "sure your truck can tow this, sign here".

One thing I do see more of is MH with top corner damage. Most often right rear and evenly distributed between the front corners.

I don't think any Rv is inherently safer except maybe one based on a swat tank. It's the meat Popsicle behind the wheel that makes it safe or not. Vast majority of the big wreaks I see when I travel are semis. I've seen one Rv trailer on its side in 25 years of Rv travel. Pretty rare.

valhalla360 wrote:
I don't think I've seen 1 RV crash per year.

I'm in that group.

But I'm not a professional truck driver putting 130,000 miles a year on the road in an RV heavy area. I do know truck drivers who do see one or two RV accidents every couple thousand miles in some area.

But one of them estimates he sees close to 1,000 to 1,500 RVs on the road between every accident.

beemerphile1 wrote:
The more important question; which you you rather be riding in when in an accident? A tow vehicle which has to pas very strict regulations and has multiple passive restraints such as air bags, or a MH that has virtually no requirements or testing?

I've wondered about this too, but when is a tow vehicle tested with a 10,000lb or more load behind it? I see these great big load ratings on trucks sometimes and think OK the drive train can pull that weight (and maybe stop it) but can it control it in an emergency. Also before the hate starts flying I don't necessarily think MH's are better either. We all need to keep extra distance and reasonable speeds with the weights we are handling.

When I was in the towing/recovery business for a number of years, we cleaned up significantly more 5'ver and TT accident scenes than we did motorhomes. With a somewhat educated guess, I'd say easily half of the non-MH accidents were caused by a combination of "not enough truck" syndrome and driver inexperience.

wa8yxm wrote:
Motor homes are also often driven by older drivers with slower reaction times.. Now some of us.. BACK OFF the person in front of us so we have more time to react.> Some tailgate,,,,, just like car drivers do.

Don't lay it all on older drivers who have had more driving time over the years.

Personally, I think older drivers are more careful than many younger ones. Younger ones are in a hurry for their weekend or 2-week vacation of fun. Older ones allow more time to get there and don't drive long days. Younger ones might have more distractions in the vehicle like children, loud music, various gadgets, etc.

Really, in our 16 years of full-timing and traveling constantly, the accidents we've seen have only been a handful.

...just my opinion. :)

Being in an RV heavy area, we see a half dozen RV wrecks a year. Most common are trailer wrecks and motor home fires.
Of course, we also see several auto wrecks every day, with a major highway (I95 or I4) being closed at least twice a week, so....