Another Likely RV Brake Failure Crash

Whoo, I'll bet that was exciting there for a minute.

fj12ryder wrote:
Older driver, could have been she stepped on the gas instead of the brake. Happens a fair number of times, but no way to tell at this point.

Yeah, I had heard this scenario mentioned quite a bit, too, and took it for a common place event and the cause of most sudden acceleration events. That is, until I had an oil change done at a Ford dealer. When the mechanic checked my air filter, he clipped off a piece of the filter flange. The next day, after entering a State Highway, the piece of clipped plastic lodged into the throttle body and held the vehicle at WOT. The replacement air filter has a different material for the flange.

Maybe a brake failure, bit who knows. What is for sure is that was an older (late 70's or early 80's class B) so who knows what kind of shape it was in!

Older driver, could have been she stepped on the gas instead of the brake. Happens a fair number of times, but no way to tell at this point.

Read the article, not sure if brakes was the problem. Sounds like she might have just misjudged and went "over the hill" literally. Looking at the photos, it appears she was heading straight into the end of T intersection and did not turn right or left, but went straight ahead. Brake failure? perhaps. But no attempt to turn, going straight forward, right down the steps ... to me, sounds more like she was not paying attention (like talking on a cell phone or turning knobs on the radio) and the end of the road was just there, catching her by surprise. She also did not have a seat belt on. If she would have had the seat belt on, she might have survived the ordeal.

We will never know. It is a wake-up call reminder to always be on-guard and diligent with maintenance on all our RV's and vehicles, and an awesome reminder that RV's can kill just as easy as the family sedan. And to always be alert and pay attention when driving.

I remember one thing my Driver's ED instructor told us. That was some 45 years ago and it stuck with me all my life. It's called "defensive driving." He said, absolutely every second you're driving, you need to constantly be re-evaluating ALL your surroundings to find the "way out" in the event of a sudden emergency. He said, take the ditch to avoid a head-on collision. Hit the side of another car if you have to to avoid a head-on. Vier off the road and side swipe a tree rather than hit another car. Better yet, look for the way out to avoid everything. I have followed that advise all my life and have never had an accident involving another vehicle (although I have backed into a telephone pole twice!)

Sober warning ... scary though, it could happen to any of us.