Taking off while the other occupants sleep

jfkmk wrote:

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.

Have you ever talked with anyone who has been in an accident in an RV? I have. In both cases that I know of, passengers inside the motorhome that were unbelted received NO INJURIES. One of those accidents was a head on, at ~60 mph. The second was at 40. In both cases, the occupants of the crashed car/suv died. (occupants that died were belted in) So if a car and an RV are in an accident, one is much safer unbelted in the RV than belted in the car.

We have had a routine of packing up the night before and sleeping in the motorhome in our drive. When I wake up in the morning, I slip into the driver's seat while still in my PJs and we take off. The family wakes up at their leisure, takes their showers, and eats breakfast. Once they are done, DW drives, I hop in the shower, get ready and eat breakfast. We arrive at our destination all rested from a good nights sleep, rather than rushing after work on a Friday night, and then driving into the very late night hours.

Early morning travel is much safer than late night travel. Much less traffic, and I am much more alert.

BTW: There are no seat belts in any area other than the front 2 seats, so no one who rides in the back is belted.