Motorhome Crash 5/11/2015

FWIW concerning the speed factor - Given that there's 40 feet for each dashed line and space on the lane divider, and I counted roughly 26 dashes passed in 11 seconds from the start of the clip until the MH veers, I estimate that the truck was doing very close to 65 mph.

Also a great reason to never just ride beside a buss, or big truck. You will NEVER see me just riding beside a large vehicle. I get past them as fast as I can, OR I let them get past me. Riding beside one is NEVER a good idea. that is what the pedals are for

I'm glad I finally know what a toad is....

samhain7 wrote:
I'm glad I finally know what a toad is....

But, did you know my MH is a TV? I still wonder about that one.

turbojimmy wrote:
Does anyone have a story of a front tire blowout that actually ended well?

Tractor-trailer, about 78,000 Gross, just dropped out of the mountains on I-76 in PA, when the front left went flat really fast. Didn't actually "POP", but she dropped onto that front rim in a hurry. Thank God I was on flat, straight ground, not on the down-hill wiggly part.

I was in right lane, doing 70ish... she went immediately to the left lane, when I pulled her back she was heading on to the left shoulder. We wiggled thru both lanes and both shoulders before she became somewhat stearable at about 40mph or so. I never touched the brakes, and kept my foot "resting" on the throttle so the engine brakes stayed off.

Does this mean doing 40mph would have eliminated the temporary loss of control?? NO, absolutely not! Truck, RV or car....it will jerk the steering wheel, taking you where it wants to go, no matter what you do.

Ever been broad-sided by a heavy wind you were not expecting??? Ending up in another lane or on the shoulder, just applying pressure to the wheel and hoping it doesn't flip or continue off the road? Yeap----kinda like that. Except there was no WIND holding me left, so that trailer just did the "OH &#!@" wiggle, one would expect after it was suddenly whipped by an erratic left turn.

EDIT: Ooops, you said ended well? I did survive, only tinkled a little bit, but ....waiting 5-6 hours for someone to bring a new tire and rim was not WELL for me. Happened about 2-3 am, I think the boss went back to bed, called roadside after he awoke and had a cup of coffee (at 7:00 am). My appointment in Philly was for 6:00 am.

turbojimmy wrote:

dreeder wrote:
I was kind of thinking how fortunate that the oncoming traffic was that he kept it in the center median as well as he did.

Apparently there was a cable barrier, according to the article. Tough to see in the vid.

Ah thanks, I did miss that. Thank God it was there.

turbojimmy wrote:

Me Again wrote:

mlh wrote:
There were cables that were recently installed that kept him from crossing into the other lanes. He did wind up sliding out blocking both lanes but you can't see it in the video.

Cables are noted to not stop cars and pickups from crossing over to the lanes going the other direction, and would have almost no effect on a vehicle this size and weight.

State of Washington recently removed the ineffective cables north of Everett on I-5 and installed Jersey barriers.

Chris

The article quotes the police as saying recently installed cables prevented him from shooting into the eastbound lanes, though it did ultimately come to rest in those lanes.

Without the cables, the nice bowl-shaped median grass may have guided him nicely, safely to a stop. Once the MH hit the cables, it rolled and that was the end of any steering. No way to know now.

wnjj wrote:
Without the cables, the nice bowl-shaped median grass may have guided him nicely, safely to a stop. Once the MH hit the cables, it rolled and that was the end of any steering. No way to know now.

Or he would have shot off into oncoming traffic at speed. Or a solid barrier would have shot him back into the path of the rig shooting the video. Too many variables. No one died. Success story in my opinion.

GWolfe wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Scary to say the least! Hard to tell the speed from the vid, but it doesn't look excessive!

As a side note, not that it had anything to do with the accident.....did anyone else notice the toad? A full size ext can Chevy pick up!

Not that it matters but it was a Ram truck, come on Dodge Guy. ;)

Glad they were OK that looked like a scary ride.

Doh! :S how could I do that! Now I gotta turn in my Dodge card!

Definitely his lucky day. A beautiful rig destroyed but apparently no one badly hurt.

One of my two surviving aunts was hit head on not far from there 10 days ago when a small pick-up came across the median and those cable barriers. She's still in ICU and will probably never walk again.

Looking at the video frame by frame - the brake lights flash briefly, the right front drops at the same time as the MH starts to turn left. A large piece of a tire comes out from under the left side of the pickup after it is on the shoulder. The barrier turns the MH away from the opposite lanes. You can see posts being pulled from the ground and thrown in the air.

The barrier appears to be installed right at the bottom of the median near the drainage ditch.

At that point while traveling straight after crossing the concrete drainage ditch, the MH is pulling the cable along as it travels and right before it tips over, you can see a long section of the cable ripped out of the ground.