Which is safer, truck / trailer or motorhome?

If this is meant for a snowy day reading, then let me add "how many of you own motorcycles, or use too?"

I subscribe to the theory that when it's your time, it's your time. I should have been dead years ago given some of the **** I pulled or got into. It just wasn't my time.

This is one of those posts that will get a lot of answers and opinions none of the definitive or with any great amount of back up. good reading on a snow day.

fj12ryder wrote:
Safer in what way? Ability to survive a collision, or the ability to avoid the collision in the first place? Head-on collision? Side swipe? Roll over? Off road excursion?

I would think that there is no "safer" RV, just a "safer" driver.

Ditto on.... "the driver".

~

An RV can also be "safe" or "not safe" for reasons well beyond who is in the driver's seat. The "physics" that are beyond any driver's control have a lot to do with safety in a variety of situations. Any tow combination is pushing the physics of vehicle motion and control more that an "integrated vehicle" type RV.

The difference between what is gotten away with day after day - versus what can happen when physics are pushed due to unexpected circumstances beyond any driver's control - can be life and death differences. From a long term safety viewpoint considering all that can happen due to centrifugal forces, forward momentums, towing connect point movements, lateral wind forces, etc. ... I'll take a Class A/B/C integrated vehicle RV over a TT or 5'er RV any day.

Of the three integrated vehicle RV's - a Class B would be the most stable and controllable, a small Class C probably the next best of the three, and a long Class A probably the worst of the three.

2gypsies wrote:
Here's the result of a accident days ago involving a Greyhound bus. We have seen similar accidents involving all kinds of RVs, including trucks that haul them. Surely you've seen pictures in your hometown of trucks in accidents. Many don't escape those either.

Basically, no vehicle is safe in an accident. Safe travels everyone!

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_29403514/two-people-killed-when-bus-overturns-south-san

The Greyhound bus in the pictures looks in much better shape than any Class A RV accident pics I've seen.

Here's the result of a accident days ago involving a Greyhound bus. We have seen similar accidents involving all kinds of RVs, including trucks that haul them. Surely you've seen pictures in your hometown of trucks in accidents. Many don't escape those either.

Basically, no vehicle is safe in an accident. Safe travels everyone!

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_29403514/two-people-killed-when-bus-overturns-south-san

I don't think any one is "safer" than any other. They are only as SAFE as the person in the driver seat!

Where is it "safer" to live? Indiana where they get tornados, or California where they get earthquakes? or Florida where they get sink holes?

If it's on the road ... nothing is "Safe"!

And.... in the event of a tornado, an earthquake, or a sink hole under my floor, I wouldn't want to be in ANY RV either!

Skill and Experience of the Driver... take driving classes.

you do not need to be a professional to drive like one.

Learn, Practice, Practice, Practice.

holstein13 wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
Safer in what way? Ability to survive a collision, or the ability to avoid the collision in the first place? Head-on collision? Side swipe? Roll over? Off road excursion?

You may be overthinking this. The question is, which are you more likely to die in? Which one has more deaths per 1,000,000 passenger miles, the MH or the truck / trailer?

If you use that definition, it encompasses both accident survival and accident prevention.

That still won't tell you anything other than one may have higher stats than the other. Too many variables to be taken into account. Motor homes may have a higher accident rate because the drivers tend to be older adults who have the disposable income to afford them. Truck and trailers may have a higher accident rate because they may be driven by younger more impulsive drivers.

Deaths/1,000,000 miles will only tell you 1 thing: one has more deaths/1,000,000 miles.

Ivylog wrote:
:B Sure looks like a big Monaco in the picture above.

Indeed it was a Monaco and more unfortunately the driver was not the owner but returning it to the owner after an oil change. :S