Bedlam wrote:
With about 10K miles a year taking trips with our RV, I see at least one bad RV accident each year and plenty of disabled RV's on the shoulder. These have all been the aftermath of something that went wrong, but I didn't see the cause.
I see at least one unsafe tow every other month where the vehicle or driver is not in full control. This could be anything from chains dragging, the front end of the vehicle pointed up at the sky, the driver outside his lane markers, etc.
Again... what proof do we have that its too light of tow vehicle and overloaded? On top of about 3000 miles a year towing, which is less than yours, I am a police officer. I investigate a LOT of wrecks. In my entire 12 years, I have investigated ONE wreck involving a trailer. It was a newer 1 ton Ford pulling a wheeled Bobcat. This guy owned the truck, trailer and Bobcat for years. This one time, the guy failed to properly load the Bobcat far enough forward. He had too little hitch weight and lost control. Flipped his truck and trailer. Its not that he had the wrong truck, its that it was IMPROPERLY LOADED.
There is a thread on this very forum about some guy pulling a relatively light trailer with a 3/4 ton truck and he is complaining about it being "white knuckle (600 miles too...)". Its not that he doesn't have enough truck... its that its improperly set up.
Even if you see a wreck on the side of the road, you have NO CLUE how it happened unless you actually stop and investigate. Maybe that Ford F150 was overloaded and lost control... but maybe the trailer was empty and well under the trucks ratings and someone crashed into him. Maybe that Ram 3500 dually had a mechanical failure that caused the crash... but maybe the driver was eating lunch, dropped his sandwich and took his eyes off the road.
Maybe the vehicles described in this thread are LESS SAFE, but the drivers managed to overcome the inherent unsafe aspects of the rig and get to their destination safely.
I would argue that SAFETY has a lot more to do with the driver and conditions more than the truck. Studies prove that younger drivers tend to have faster reflexes than older drivers. Studies prove that distracted driving (texting, talking on phone, eating, reading a map, adjusting GPS, etc) can be just as dangerous as drunken driving.
I would argue that it is very easy for me (34 years old) to safely drive an overloaded Tundra, but pay attention to the road, know the route, constantly scan the road ahead and beside me and not allow myself to be distracted. I would argue it is VASTLY LESS SAFE for a 60 year to drive a 40' motorhome towing a toad and trying to hold a conversation with his wife who is in the kitchen making him a sandwich to eat while he tries to navigate a busy stretch of highway that he isn't familiar with.
BUT... we on RV.net don't talk about the newly retired guy with a 40,000 lbs class a pulling another 5,000 lbs behind him driving distracted. We inherently ignore that and chose to yell and scream about the guy in the Tundra who is pulling at his rated maximum weight... or God forbid 500 lbs over that weight.
Its foolish and ignorant, yet the hyperbole continues at a frantic rate as people try to insult half ton owners (grocery getters) and justify their own overloaded rigs (3/4 ton owners) and bash owners of other brands (blind brand loyalists).
A long time ago this forum used to be a good source of information that really helped educate people and encouraged safe travel and our fraternal brotherhood as RVers.
Now it is a huge complaint board where we find reasons to distance ourselves from the others. The divisiveness on this forum has turned off a lot of people and has really done a disservice to the original intent of HELPING people and ENCOURAGING others.
Threads like this just further lead to the downward spiral. Just an opportunity for people to speculate and spread more fear and misinformation and divisiveness...
