Taking off while the other occupants sleep

msturtz wrote:

jfkmk wrote:

msturtz wrote:
. It is very different getting into a crash in a 26,000# motorhome vs. a 2000# smart car. That amount of mass will slow down and or stop much slower than a smaller amount of mass when hitting an equal sized object. This is just physics. The net effect for passengers is less effects in a crash.

That would be a great point if your 20,000# motorhome is on the road with nothing but smart cars. More likely you'll be on the road with a bunch of 80,000# semis. Get in an accident with a truck or hit a divider and your physics point is moot.

Actually, no physics isn't moot. There are far more cars on the road than trucks and truck drivers are arguably better trained than average car drivers. You are much more likely to hit a car or be hit by a car than a truck. Even fixed objects such as barriers will move when hit. Do I believe my kids are safer belted in: yes. That said I must balence reality and usability against the statistical likelihood of a major accident. We choose to limit the amount of time our kids are out of their seatbelts to the minimum possible. We choose to take the risk on the rare occasion. None of the school buses I drove had seat belts, no metro busses or private busses have seat belts. The seat belts in new motorhomes are poorly anchored in many cases and are placed in odd positions such as in a sideways mounted sofa when in an accident would only serve to transfer the effects of a collision to an occupants waist sideways likely causing significant internal injury. The dinette belts are no better because you have a fixed table right in front of you. In an accident your head (or your child's head) will slam into the table causing head injury. The safest place to be would be in a rear facing crash seat. Seatbelts have benefit in keeping the person from flying around in the coach in the event of an accident. So in short there is benefit, however limited benefit.

If you think that, because of the mass of your vehicle, you're going to come to a gentle stop in the event of an accident, you're sadly mistaken. If you're crash at any rate of speed, you're going to be violently thrown if yours not restrained.

Sadly, while truckers are trained and automobile drivers are typically not, the days of assuming truckers are courteous and professional are over (sorry if I offend any truckers). Yeah, a portion of them are such, but certainly not the majority. I've seen them text, talk on the cell phone, drive with a foot out the window (can't see how that's comfortable), swerve in and out of traffic, tailgate, take up all highway lanes even though they're not passing, etc. My friends wife is a pharmacist at a pharmacy near a truck stop. She said its amazing how many drugs they try to buy with obviously take scripts.

Don't know how long who you drove a school bus, but most of them now have seat belts. Same with other busses I've been in.

Look, seat belt use is a personal choice. I also realize everyone has their own tolerance for risk. Personally, I'd rather wake my family up early and deal with them being cranky than risk having them get hurt. Alternatively, I'd rather take an early walk with a cup of coffee while I wait for them to get up than risk having them become injured because I can't wait to hit the road.