Seat Belts

[DKM_Fam]

Please don’t beat me up to bad for asking this, I am just curious. We have a new to us 35’ Georgie Boy. The sofa and chair have seat belts. Do people use these while driving? We are a family of 5 (3 kiddos), none young enough to require safety seats. It seems to me, part of the joy of having a big motor home is to allow the family some comfort while traveling. I would love to allow my kids to be able to sit at the dinette or on the floor and play a game while traveling. Kids usually don’t ride as well or as long if “tied down”. I do realize the safety factor, and would insist they were their belts when in congested driving areas, or other dangerous conditions. However, is we are on long flat, low traffic highways and traveling at a leisurely slow pace, would you let them be unbuckled? Just curious and thanks in advance for your honest opinion.
Dennis

[smacdiesel]

My problem with the belts in my MH is the fact that the belts in back are bolted onto the slides, if we roll and the slides come out, so do my children secured in their belts. Not to say I don't keep them belted.

[carp65]

Our 2005 GeorgieBoy has seat belts on both sides of the dining table, the
couch, and Captain's Chair

[Francesca_Knowl]

Seatbelts? Who needs 'em...only two out of the three unbelted RVers in this October 27th moho accident were killed! 🙂

News article wrote:
But headed home from the race in Martinsville, on I-75 near the Tennessee/Kentucky border, police say the family's RV went off the road and down an embankment.

Jackie was behind the wheel. Investigators say no one was wearing seat belts. The couple was killed when the RV hit a tree.

Their daughter Debbie, a teacher at Granville-Wells Elementary in Western Boone, was trapped and injured, but is expected to be okay. She suffered severe lacerations to her leg, which will require surgery.

Link to source

[willald]

Ahhh, yes, this is another of the topics that frequently stirs up quite a bit of 'debate'. 🙂

One of the main reasons we moved up from a TT and truck to a Motorhome, was so that traveling, being on the road would be much more comfortable and eaiser on the whole family. Would allow us to take longer trips, easier.

That being the case, yes, I *DO* let the kids or DW get up to use facilities, get a snack or drink occasionally, etc. To not allow that IMHO would almost defeat the purpose of owning a MH over a towable RV.

However, when sitting down, yes, they need to be buckled, thats the general rule we use. They do not get up to run around and/or play in the floor, either. If anyone gets up, its for a specific purpose, after which they get back to their seat and buckle up.

As to allowing them to lay down on one of the beds: We don't allow that presently, but may in the future. Reason being, we don't presently have any kind of 'seat belt' on the beds, to keep them from becoming a flying 'rag doll' in the event I had to make a sudden emergency maneuver. Thought about adding such like one poster previously mentioned, and we may one day, but have not yet. Until then, everyone sits in one of the seat-belted seats - recliner, passenger seat, sofa, or dinette.

IMO, if you take the approach that everyone must ALWAYS be buckled in when moving, and nobody is ever allowed to get up for anything: That approach basically defeats the purpose and wipes out some of the main advantages of a motorized RV over a towable unit. If nobody is ever allowed to get up and move when MH is moving, then you might as well be riding in a car or truck pulling a towable RV. Not a whole lot of difference there, IMHO, and would be much less expensive.

[rgatijnet1]

We always use our seat belts in every vehicle that we own. That said, my DW is an adult, and depending on road conditions, she will make a decision to unbuckle and use the rest room or grab something to eat or drink while I continue down the highway.
After over 50 years of marriage, and riding with me in the various vehicles and airplanes that I have owned, she feels confident enough in my ability to not do anything stupid. Naturally we cannot always avoid the other guy but she also will not unbuckle if there is a lot of traffic in the vicinity.
The only time we have had passengers in our coach is for very short local trips and we have seat belts for all to use.

[Ramair]

I see both sides of the coin here yes accidents can happen anytime but that's why we purchased a class A is for the room and my wife does go to the restroom and get drinks and such for us both and when she returns she buckles up. We have had our grandkids go with us on a few trips and they sit in the recliners and do not move and watch TV. As long as you are comfortable then so be it. Again to each their own...

[falconman]

I guess you have to decide which is more important, their comfort or safety. Once that accident that statistically shouldn't happen does, it's too late. I'm sure evey firefighter or LEO cringes when they hear excuses for not using the belts. It doesn't take too many accident scenes to make an impression.

[Nomadac]

For those that think nothing can happen while driving on an Interstate, do a search for Jeff Gordon's driver's ed teacher killed in Tennessee crash in his Motorhome. He and his wife were killed when his MH went off I-75 near Jellico, TN Monday. Some traffic was detoured, while some waited on the Interstate to move very slowly. I saw their MH over the bank, probably stopped by tree(s). Don't know time of day that it happened but weather reports previous evening suggested foggy overnight, and that area is known for foggy conditios. Another reason to always wear seatbelts is if a tire blows which can result in a loss of control if you have not had training on how to control.

[mpierce]

Most laws allow vehicles that were not required to be equipped at original build time, to be grandfathered in. My 1990 Bluebird only has seat belts on the front two seats. Is it grandfathered in, in those states that require all in a MH to be buckled in?

If I have a 1950 Buick, that did NOT have OEM belts, I believe it is legal without them, as not required at the time of build.

[the_silverback]

We use them. Why not!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wa8yxm]

Most RV's only have 4 seat belts but it may be possible to add a 5th.

My rule is "Buckle up or transmission remains in PARK".

I have seen far too many accidents, either live and on camera (remotly controlled traffic cam) in evidence photos (Taken by police officers at the scene) or the car after the crash. Where people failed to buckle up.

My daughter's first babysitter (Back over 3 decades ago) had a split lip, I ask about it.. Her 3 friends laughed at her when she buckled her belt.

She then attended 3 funerals (Theirs) because the belt saved her life.

[Deano56]

our older coach has seatbelts at the dining booth, but some have stated kids small enough could get their heads damaged on the edge of the table in a sudden stop, but lets be real about things, if one rear ended a semi with a flat nosed coach, your bathroom might end up at the back of your head, or your chairs from the dining table. People are killed everyday with seat belts on and people live through crashes without seat belts.I sure would be cautious about following too close and as OP said heavily congested areas. I have hard time believing that anyone on here hasn't had there wife walk to the fridge or grab a snack while driving. I'll bet some have even done a driver switch while moving even though thats pretty foolish.

[gemert]

I have a 2003 and the only belts are on driver/passenger seats. I've tried to get RV dealers to install them and they all cite liability concerns. I will have to do it myself but am unsure how to unbolt furniture so I can anchor them to the floor and...be sure I can bolt the furniture back in when done. Not to mention that I'm a little concerned what I will be bolting the new seatbelts to. I don't want to run in to electrical wiring or anything. So for now the kids stay seated but unbelted.

[Ductape]

Let me preface this by saying I'm a believer in seat belts- they saved my life once.

I also believe in assessing things like risk and reward rationally. Case in point people have fear of flying, but rationally it is safer than driving.

To the point, what is the risk per mile travelled in a MH compared with other activities, specifically car travel? This guy did some nice work which seems sound. You can Google up all the numbers for yourself if you're so inclined (I did). His conclusion is that motorhomes have on average one third as many fatal accidents per mile compared to the overall vehicle population.

From that, I can draw the conclusion that I'm safer in the MH than the toad, so belted in the MH is the best choice. Less clear- is driving the toad (belted) safer per mile of travel than being on the bed or the dinette in the MH?

According to NHTSA the fatality rate for school busses is only 0.2 per million miles. A great number, not because of belts, but because they are big and yellow.
Maybe Hi-vis yellow MH will be the next big thing. 🙂