Help me understand California Turnouts - Updated

pnichols wrote:

rhagfo wrote:
If your rig doesn't feel comfortable or safe at at least the posted speed limit time to get it checked out and fixed.

Baloney!!!

My well maintained 24 foot Class C on a Ford E450 V10 chassis can run all day long at 65 to 80 MPH. It's rock solid stable at all speeds since it's a grossly under-loaded truck chassis that has way more than enough horsepower, brakes, and Michelin LR E tires to deal with those type of speeds on such places as the Salt Flats.

BUT ... to travel on public roadway trips at speeds in that range would be stupid for me to do and is stupid for everyone else to do.

California has nothing to do with this discussion. I've been on several multi-thousand mile RV trips all over the U.S. and puddle-jumper vehicle drivers around us in every state we've been in drive at too-high dangerous speeds every day.

They appear to be getting by with it temporarily. "Temporarily getting by" isn't good enough for me ... or for that matter it isn't good enough for the designers of our future vehicles. Eventually they're going to get around dangerous drivers by offering vehicles that drive themselves while the "driver" plays on their mobile device.

God help us all (RV owners) .... from today's drivers around us and tomorrow's self-driving vehicles around us.

All of the above is IMHO, of course.

Tesla 'Auto Pilot' car crash...driver killed
LINK

The words "understanding" and "California laws" should not appear in the same sentence. The two terms are mutually exclusive.

Wow,'seems like I ignited a fire storm!
I didn't mean to imply to drive an RV like a sedan or sports car!
In Oregon many of the roads over the Coast range and good old 101, are twisty curvy and go up and down.
No I don't fly around curves at the posted limit, I usually slow to the recommended speed. So far I have not gone up a hill that I haven't come down at about the same speed as traffic. Maybe if it was better than 6 percent I wold go slower, but typically drop a gear and let the PacBrake do its job.
Even I believe that 70 is too fast on a two lane road, but will also say that 60 can be a very comfortable speed on a winding road. I was taugh years ago safe following distance and eyes well down the road.

Yes the OP is about turnouts and their correct use, I have user in the past, once with an old F250 with a Caveman camper when I had a guy that appeared to want to go 70, but other than that usually rolled with traffic.
I will add as a footnote that many that will fly by you on a straightaway, tend to slow way down for curves also.

Sure it feels comfortable and safe at posted limit on straight highway with good visibility. But many times the posted limit does not take into account curves or other temporary slowdowns-the curves are often marked with a yellow advisory sign. Rhagfo and I have had this discussion before and I won't belabor it But my 4 cylinder Accord will scoot around a corner faster and in more control than nearly any RV. And most people operating these cars do just that. It is silly to brake into corners hard and accelerate out of corners hard in an RV just to *try* to keep up with traffic. Which in the case of briskly operated cars is impossible. The point of the thread is to pull over when safe and under legal guidelines. This is the answer.

rhagfo wrote:
If your rig doesn't feel comfortable or safe at at least the posted speed limit time to get it checked out and fixed.

Baloney!!!

My well maintained 24 foot Class C on a Ford E450 V10 chassis can run all day long at 65 to 80 MPH. It's rock solid stable at all speeds since it's a grossly under-loaded truck chassis that has way more than enough horsepower, brakes, and Michelin LR E tires to deal with those type of speeds on such places as the Salt Flats.

BUT ... to travel on public roadway trips at speeds in that range would be stupid for me to do and is stupid for everyone else to do.

California has nothing to do with this discussion. I've been on several multi-thousand mile RV trips all over the U.S. and puddle-jumper vehicle drivers around us in every state we've been in drive at too-high dangerous speeds every day.

They appear to be getting by with it temporarily. "Temporarily getting by" isn't good enough for me ... or for that matter it isn't good enough for the designers of our future vehicles. Eventually they're going to get around dangerous drivers by offering vehicles that drive themselves while the "driver" plays on their mobile device.

God help us all (RV owners) .... from today's drivers around us and tomorrow's self-driving vehicles around us.

All of the above is IMHO, of course.

rhagfo wrote:

CavemanCharlie wrote:
I didn't read all 7 pages of this thread. I don't live, nor have I ever been to CA. If you are talking driving on a 2 lane road and the other traffic is going a certain speed then I would keep up with the flow of the traffic.

Illegal or not.

If you are driving to slow you are as much a hazard to traffic as if you were driving way to fast.

X2!
I find it reasonable to run at 5 to 10 over if that is what traffic is traveling at, and road conditions allow. Putting along at 45 to 50 in a 55 zone will quickly build a backup and in that backup there is likely to some impatient idiot!
If your rig doesn't feel comfortable or safe at at least the posted speed limit time to get it checked out and fixed.

Well you're stating two different things here: "reasonable to run at 5 to 10 over" and "Putting along at 45 to 50 in a 55 zone".

First, a speed limit is a LIMIT not a minimum. Just because "some impatient idiot" feels the need to go 10 over on a windy road doesn't mean I have to do the same.

Second, on windy roads, it's not the straight-away that is speed limiting, it the curves. And to suggest that a large RV should be able to handle those curves as well as a small sedan is going against physics. A large top heavy rig is never going to be able to keep up with smaller cars on such roads.

Third, on hilly roads, it's the stopping factor that is speed limiting. Suggesting that that RV should take the road at the same speed as the small sedan is going against physics. There is no way that RV is going to be able to slow down and/or maintain the same speed as that small sedan going down hills and do it safely.

Fourth, on any of these back road highways there is going to be wildlife, cross traffic, construction blocking the road, etc. A large RV needs more time to stop safely if they come across one of these things - going at the same speed as a small sedan is NOT going to provide them with that necessary time.

Fifth, I don't drive the same in my SUV as I do in a sedan - they handle differently. A curve I feel comfortable taking at 55 in a sedan, I slow to 50 in the SUV, because it's top heavy. Likewise, I drive differently with my clipper than I do in my SUV. I'm going to take that same curve at 45 or slower in the clipper because it is even more top heavy. Doesn't mean my SUV or clipper needs to "get fixed", it means it handles differently and requires a different driving personality. To suggest that they should all be able to handle roads and speeds the same is an accident waiting to happen.

CavemanCharlie wrote:
I didn't read all 7 pages of this thread. I don't live, nor have I ever been to CA. If you are talking driving on a 2 lane road and the other traffic is going a certain speed then I would keep up with the flow of the traffic.

Illegal or not.

If you are driving to slow you are as much a hazard to traffic as if you were driving way to fast.

X2!
I find it reasonable to run at 5 to 10 over if that is what traffic is traveling at, and road conditions allow. Putting along at 45 to 50 in a 55 zone will quickly build a backup and in that backup there is likely to some impatient idiot!
If your rig doesn't feel comfortable or safe at at least the posted speed limit time to get it checked out and fixed.

pnichols wrote:


Noooope!

No way am I going to drive my motorhome 65 - 70 MPH on a winding two lane road just because it has a 60 or 65 MPH speed limit ... like many folks do in their little puddle jumpers - just so that I can keep up with a flow of traffic that is actually dangerous in any size vehicle on winding two lane roads with side driveways that, for instance, a farm tractor can enter onto from a driveway at any time. Keeping up with a dangerous flow of traffic is just plain dangerous for everyone. The speed demons behind my MH can just wait until I find a turnout that is safe for me to use to get out of their (dangerous) way. :E

Right on!

Yeah .... and what frosts my behind the most is that it's my brakes, drive train, consumed fuel, and time that gets used up every occasion that I have to slow down, pull over, and speed back up so as to not irritate them too much as they play their dangerous speed games ... not their brakes, their drive train, their consumed fuel, and their time!

pnichols wrote:

CavemanCharlie wrote:
If you are talking driving on a 2 lane road and the other traffic is going a certain speed then I would keep up with the flow of the traffic.

Noooope!

No way am I going to drive my motorhome 65 - 70 MPH on a winding two lane road just because it has a 60 or 65 MPH speed limit ... like many folks do in their little puddle jumpers - just so that I can keep up with a flow of traffic that is actually dangerous in any size vehicle on winding two lane roads with side driveways that, for instance, a farm tractor can enter onto from a driveway at any time. Keeping up with a dangerous flow of traffic is just plain dangerous for everyone. The speed demons behind my MH can just wait until I find a turnout that is safe for me to use to get out of their (dangerous) way. :E

YEP..........

And they will have to wait until I come upon a turnout that will allow me to pull in/slow down/stop my long wheel base truck and 34' 5vr.