Class A Tire Blow and Roll-over

[lakebum]

I am sure this is old and has been posted before but made me wonder....

How much did the driver's actions play into the final outcome?

Link to YouTube video

[427435]

turbojimmy wrote:

Executive wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
No one knows how one would react to a motorhome blowout until you've been through it. Thankfully, very few experience it.

I simply pulled to the shoulder and called Coach Net. Then proceeded to use rubbing compound and wax to remove the rubber scuffs off the side of the rig while waiting for the tow truck.....:B:B....Dennis

What I worry about most on my "vintage" rig is the height of the sidewalls on the 19.5 rim/tire combo. If one were to blow it would drop significantly which wouldn't be so bad in the back, but in the front I could see how it could cause a loss of control. Hopefully I'll never find out.

As I posted earlier, I had a blow-out on my LF at 65 on an interstate. It did pull sharply to the left. I was able to correct enough to keep it in my lane or maybe on the center line between lanes. The trickiest part was not over correcting and putting it into the ditch on the right side of the road. With the LF tire down, and my steering correction to the right, the MH was leaning to the left. It would have been real easy to have over corrected and either flipped the MH or put it in the ditch.

I hope you don't ever find out as it could go bad if your reflexes are poor or if you have little experience correcting skidding vehicles. In my youth, I used to love to dirt track around curves on gravel roads and ran some sports car gymkhanas. :B

[J-Rooster]

When I was a very young man United Parcel Service put me thru there driving school. And, I went thru a driving school while working for Food Services of America (Smith System Driving School), both of these schools recommend if you have a blow out to take your foot off the throttle pedal hold the steering very firmly and try to get off the roadway! Both schools said not to apply pressure to your brakes when this happens. I drove over the road 44-1/4 years and logged 4 million miles and this practice worked for me a time or two!

[turbojimmy]

Executive wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
No one knows how one would react to a motorhome blowout until you've been through it. Thankfully, very few experience it.

I simply pulled to the shoulder and called Coach Net. Then proceeded to use rubbing compound and wax to remove the rubber scuffs off the side of the rig while waiting for the tow truck.....:B:B....Dennis

What I worry about most on my "vintage" rig is the height of the sidewalls on the 19.5 rim/tire combo. If one were to blow it would drop significantly which wouldn't be so bad in the back, but in the front I could see how it could cause a loss of control. Hopefully I'll never find out.

[Executive45]

2gypsies wrote:
No one knows how one would react to a motorhome blowout until you've been through it. Thankfully, very few experience it.

I simply pulled to the shoulder and called Coach Net. Then proceeded to use rubbing compound and wax to remove the rubber scuffs off the side of the rig while waiting for the tow truck.....:B:B....Dennis

[2gypsies1]

No one knows how one would react to a motorhome blowout until you've been through it. Thankfully, very few experience it.

[turbojimmy]

Sorry to bring this up again, but I thought it was interesting that Gas Monkey Garage posted this video up on Facebook (they're click ****** that get paid for sharing videos just like other "celebrities"). I commented on the video and the daughter-in-law of the driver (or so she claims) replied with:

- He was going 67 MPH in a 70 MPH zone, as verified by the GPS in the camera of the truck he was passing (too fast, IMO, but I didn't debate it with her)
- Driver had 40-years experience driving big rigs, had a CDL
- The cable barrier flipped the rig over
- It did indeed slide across all the lanes of the opposite side of the highway
- Driver sustained cuts and bruises, passenger was partially ejected through the front windshield and broke their collar bone

[msmith1199]

rockhillmanor wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
It keeps amazing me how "old farts" will keep on selling their agendas regardless posted facts. ...

Other than that being a derogatory comment not needed on this forum. :R

You have NO idea how old a forum member is. Nor would it make any difference.

He wasn't talking to anybody anyway since nobody said what he claimed.

[lakebum]

Kayteg1 wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
It's good for all of us to freshen our minds on what to do when a blowout occurs.

It makes no difference regarding speed, age, health, skill or whatever you chose to blame the driver for...a blowout needs to be handled properly in a RV or in a car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwOE1yKY5c

This is one of those things that "Ain't going to happen" beside the fact the theory is questionable, just like Michelin theory of putting better tires on rear axle.
Years ago I was practicing ice driving.
This is one of those situation where you need to work against your human instincts. At the moment when you want to go left, you need to steer right.
Similar with scuba diving, when you have to work your instincts against grasping for air when you need it - those things take long hours of training to become natural reaction.
Do you have 200 tires to spare?

Here is the solution...14 second YouTube video

[Mile_High]

I guess like anti-lock brakes compensating for our natural reaction to lock up the brakes, MHs need something that automatically floors it when you get a blowout, because that is probably going to be the last thing my instincts are going to let me do.

[Kayteg1]

2gypsies wrote:
It's good for all of us to freshen our minds on what to do when a blowout occurs.

It makes no difference regarding speed, age, health, skill or whatever you chose to blame the driver for...a blowout needs to be handled properly in a RV or in a car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwOE1yKY5c

This is one of those things that "Ain't going to happen" beside the fact the theory is questionable, just like Michelin theory of putting better tires on rear axle.
Years ago I was practicing ice driving.
This is one of those situation where you need to work against your human instincts. At the moment when you want to go left, you need to steer right.
Similar with scuba diving, when you have to work your instincts against grasping for air when you need it - those things take long hours of training to become natural reaction.
Do you have 200 tires to spare?

[2gypsies1]

It's good for all of us to freshen our minds on what to do when a blowout occurs.

It makes no difference regarding speed, age, health, skill or whatever you chose to blame the driver for...a blowout needs to be handled properly in a RV or in a car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwOE1yKY5c

[Kayteg1]

Road barriers, just like cars frame need to be engineered.
I live close to a point where 4-lanes, 45 mph divided highway merge into 2-lane 30 mph curvy road.
At the end of the merge, before the road turns engineers put steel barrier on wood posts.
Those are 6x10 posts, so pretty strong, but the way whole thing is engineered, first couple of posts have big holes drilled at ground level, so easy to shear, while the metal rail has cable that holds the end from rolling up.
Every few years the rail gets shear off. Couple years ago it was elderly driver of pickup, this spring drunk driver of Mitsubishi sport car.
He managed to shear off 14 of those wood posts.
I went there the morning after accidents. The wreck was cleared, but still about 10,000 small pieces covered the area. I could see chunks of headlights 25 feet from chunks of radiator.
We have been pretty sure the accident was fatal, but later found out that driver walk away with minor scratches.
Well design barrier and car airbags really work.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

ferndaleflyer wrote:
Sister in law hit one of those metal guard rails several years ago with a car and the rail went straight into the front of the car all the way into the trunk. It went through the front and back passenger side seats and a baby seat (empty at the time)in the back seat......I don't like either kind

I hear you on that.

I see alot of the wood/metal barriers that start and end abruptly, such that a car could easily hit the end if it and be badly damaged and result in death.

Those barriers are supposed to be curved away from the direction of traffic at each end, such that a car will hit the barrier at an angle, glancing it and then sliding along it, instead of running head-on into the end of it.

Poor execution of a good idea is just as bad as a bad idea.

[Cloud_Dancer]

lakebum wrote:
I wonder what a slower speed in this instance would have had on the final outcome? I wonder if 10 mph less, 20 mph less would have even made a difference?

For me, and not so much for safety, I drive about 5 -1 0 mph less than the posted limited on the interstate when on the Coach. I like to set my cruise control and just drive. At those speeds I typically do not run up on any traffic and everyone passes me. I get better fuel milage and just not in a hurry....

If, immediately after a blowout, the driver fails to use the onboard mechanical and hydraulic advantage in order to maintain control of his vehicle, then plus or minus 10 mph from speed limit will NOT matter,....he's going to end up in the grass, either way. At either speed, once you are on the grass, you might as well be a passenger.