Two RVs hit head on - Hwy 49 in California

[Executive45]

Two RVs collided head on while traveling on Hwy 49 near Grass Valley today. Single driver in the smaller RV and a couple in the larger one....Prayers for the families...Dennis





Story

[rockhillmanor]

grant135b wrote:
I was a first responder for over twenty years. Belted-in people occasionally die anyway in crashes but they are far outweighed by the number of unbelted people who die who most likely would have survived with minor or no injuries if they had been belted into their seat. I can't even count the number of people I saw over the years who died or were severely injured (permanently paralysed, brain damage, etc) from being ejected, some of whom were then crushed or otherwise run over by their own vehicle. The seat they had been thrown out of? Intact.......

X2

[leeper]

The Pace Arrow with only the driver in it crossed over to the other motorhomes' lane, hitting it head on. Reason is not known. Driver of Pace Arrow lives right there in Grass Valley.

[Effy]

rgatijnet1 wrote:

Effy wrote:
Seeing these accidents and understanding the lack of crashworthiness reinforces some of the motives for selling ours.

No one needs a reason for selling their RV but a quick search of the internet turned up more people dying in wheelchair accidents than RV accidents. Just saying, there is no safe form of transportation.

I don't own a wheelchair - yet.

And armchair analysis like this is really misleading. There are far more people in wheelchairs and those people obviously already have health concerns - hence the wheelchair. So of course there would be more wheelchair accidents. It's apples and oranges.

Anytime analysis is meaningful it involves correlation. So the only way to compare crash worthiness of an RV is to compare it to the same number and type of crash as other passenger vehicles. In that instance, without even looking at data (if it exists) I can tell you confidently that RV's will be worse every time. I don't even think there are crash test standards for RV's at all.

[rgatijnet1]

Effy wrote:
Seeing these accidents and understanding the lack of crashworthiness reinforces some of the motives for selling ours.

No one needs a reason for selling their RV but a quick search of the internet turned up more people dying in wheelchair accidents than RV accidents. Just saying, there is no safe form of transportation.

[grant135b]

I was a first responder for over twenty years. Belted-in people occasionally die anyway in crashes but they are far outweighed by the number of unbelted people who die who most likely would have survived with minor or no injuries if they had been belted into their seat. I can't even count the number of people I saw over the years who died or were severely injured (permanently paralysed, brain damage, etc) from being ejected, some of whom were then crushed or otherwise run over by their own vehicle. The seat they had been thrown out of? Intact.

The last fatal I responded to before my retirement was caused by an unbelted, distracted driver on the freeway who came up at full freeway speed on unexpected stopped traffic. She overacted by swerving violently to the left, which threw her out of the driver's seat toward the passenger side enough that she no longer had control of the vehicle. Her then-driverless vehicle (with her still inside) travelled at freeway speed through the grassy median dip, became airborne, and struck several oncoming vehicles. She was ejected and killed, and two belted-in drivers going the opposite direction were killed by her airborne vehicle basically landing in their laps (it struck the first vehicle and cartwheeled into the second). Several other vehicles were struck by debris and some occupants in those vehicles suffered non-life threatening injuries. I was only a mile away, and when I got there less than five minutes later both sides of the freeway were at a stop and there were people running in various directions, with smoke and debris spread over a large area. The scene looked very much like a plane crash, all the result of a distracted, unbelted driver. The two drivers who were killed by no choice or action of their own left widows and several fatherless children between them.

[msmith1199]

Effy wrote:
Seeing these accidents and understanding the lack of crashworthiness reinforces some of the motives for selling ours.

Sounds like everybody survived this accident. What would a car have looked like had it hit either one of these motorhomes head on, especially that big heavy DP? Yes, I understand the dangers of motorhomes, but the vast majority of the other vehicles out there are a lot smaller and a lot closer to the ground than you are. So the odds are in your favor just because of that factor. But if you're going to be in an accident where you are hitting a semi-truck or a large motorhome head on, would you rather me in a similar large vehicle or in a car?

[irishtom29]

Some people want to be "thrown clear".

[Mr_Mark1]

this....above..

Wearing seat belts is so important.

Last fall leaving Florida for Tennessee, we were driving north on the 75 when I saw a vehicle kicking up dust on the southbound side. A Chevy Trailblazer was losing control and veered sharply towards the center guard rail.

Just before he hit it, the sharp angle and speed that he was going caused the woman in the backseat to fly through the passenger back door window. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. She landed on the pavement, all of the other family members jumped out including two small kids, one less the 1 yr. old.

People ran over to help the lady on the pavement. She never moved while I was there. We had pulled off on our side to see what we could do to help. The engine on the Chevy started smoking and catching fire. I ran back to the motorhome to get our fire extinguisher (the one behind the passenger seat).

I ran over to the burning vehicle and started spraying the engine compartment where the hood was buckled. It was like putting drops of water on an inferno.... those small extinguishers are for very small fires and was empty in no time.

I looked on the internet for the local news in that area and never saw anything on the accident.

PLEASE WEAR YOUR SEAT BELTS!

Safe travels,
MM.

[rockhillmanor]

This is very sad, and the RV'ers will be in our prayers tonight for their recovery.

This accident can also serve as an RV learning experience as to why everyone should wear their seat belt and that pets should 'always' be crated during travel for their safety also. Just in case something like this does happen.
""which ejected Poquette — who wasn't wearing a seat belt,....
two dogs inside his vehicle. One stayed inside the motorhome after the wreck and the other fled.""

Accidents do happen and we never know when it will happen to us so we all should take safety precautions every time we get behind the wheel of our RV's.

[Executive45]

One is a Pace Arrow the other is a Thor. As for the crash worthiness of a motor home, I think they are as safe as most other vehicles. Ours has a steel cage under the glass. In a crash where two huge vehicles meet head on there will be tons, literally, of damage. Imagine if the PA had hit a smaller vehicle. I also wonder, since the PA driver was 77 if he had some kind of medical issue that caused him to cross into NB traffic or if it was a distracted driver issue. We may never know as the news rarely follow up on these stories..Be alert, Be safe....Dennis

[Ocean_Mist]

One is the older pace arrow, anyone know what the tag is?

I'm going to invent a RV that is driven from the middle of the coach using cameras...

No, scratch that. I going to design a module that encasses the front 2 occupants and in case of accident, 10 airbags will be deployed...

Hope everyone is OK

[Effy]

Seeing these accidents and understanding the lack of crashworthiness reinforces some of the motives for selling ours.

[rv2go]

More on the accident HERE

[gbopp]

azdryheat wrote:
Keep in mind that RV's don't have the crash worthiness that we're used to in our cars.

Yes, it's scary how they explode on impact.

[msmith1199]

Always hard to completely tell by photos, but it does appear as if the Pace Arrow is completely on the wrong side of the road. And although Highway 49 can be a windy road in places, this looks like a nice wide straight stretch of it.