Abrupt end

[neonjohn]

Well, that was fun while it lasted. Today my "new" RV was totaled in a head-on collision with a woman who had lost control of her car and spun into my lane. She had been forced out of her lane by a large crane truck that I was following and who rounded the curve in the wrong lane and at high speed. Of course, she didn't have any insurance.

This being my first wreck as an adult, I've learned several things already.

* Liability-only insurance does not cover towing. We gotta pay for that.

* Coach-net.com does NOT cover accident towing. So if you have an inexpensive rig like we had and have only liability insurance, be sure you have the resources to have your rig towed if you're in a wreck.

Fortunately neither of us were hurt. Seat belts worked again. Praise the Lord that our MH didn't have air bombs. The woman's car had air bombs that came out from everywhere and beat her up badly enough that she had to go to the hospital.

I've been encouraging people for years to have the air bombs disabled on their vehicles. I've seen so many injuries and one fatality from air bombs. One of my aunts was killed by an air bomb deploying during a relatively minor side impact. The bomb broke her neck. My wife's son recently had an eye blown out in an otherwise minor wreck.

Seat belts save lives; air bombs take them.

Soooo... Until we collect from the crane company's insurance, I'll be on the RV sideline again.

John

[MEXICOWANDERER]

If they put red light cameras down here, they would overload, catch fire, and drag down snarls of high voltage wires on top of unsuspecting pedestrians.

[mchero]

Wonder what the insurance industries take on people disabling air bags?

[pnichols]

drsteve wrote:
The National Driver's Association, from what I can tell, is a for-profit lobbying group that was originally founded to oppose the 55 mph speed limit. Now, they spend their time cataloging speed traps, opposing red light cameras, and complaining that DUI laws need to be relaxed.

Good grief!!!

Unless I'm reading it wrong ... the N.D.A. is AGAINST everything I'm FOR.

Of course with us all in self-driving vehicles someday - animals, pedestrians, and passengers can finally have any attitudes and habits they want and still arrive safely ... IF:

1. Electronic chips don't fail.
2. Electronic solder joints don't go cold.
3. Wiring insulation doesn't develop a wear-through spot.
4. Optical camera lens don't get dirty.
5. Infra-red camera detectors don't become weak on either transmission or reception.
6. Pattern recognition software is, and remains, perfect.
7. Satellite links remain unbothered by bad weather.
8. Satellites remain up there.
9. Cell tower access is 100% everywhere and all the time.
10. The non-military GPS system becomes accurate to within at least 4-6 inches everywhere passengers want to go.
11. The vehicle's sensors, mechanicals, hydraulic systems, and linear/rotational electrical actuator systems remain on the job and accurate everytime passengers want to go somewhere.
12. The vehicle's batteries are always charged enough and electro-chemically reliable enough to never ever fail when needed.
13. Just in case, everything in the vehicle concerned with it self-driving safely has double or, preferrably, triple backup.

:h and :S and :R and :E

[drsteve]

Bigdogboogie wrote:
Interesting thread. I have no idea how many MVC's I've worked in my career but I have yet to see a serious injury or death due to air bags. Not saying it doesn't happen, Just haven't witnessed or heard of a verified incident in 17 years.

On the other hand I've cut quite a few people out of wrecked cars that I don't believe would have survived without air bag protection.

Thank you. Your years of real world experience are, to me, much more conclusive than speculation-filled anecdotes based on one incident.

The National Driver's Association, from what I can tell, is a for-profit lobbying group that was originally founded to oppose the 55 mph speed limit. Now, they spend their time cataloging speed traps, opposing red light cameras, and complaining that DUI laws need to be relaxed.

[Tom_M1]

I went off about a 15' embankment in Colorado with my pickup and truck camper. Camper was launched off the back of the truck and truck ended up on its side. The impact ripped off one of the front wheels. The airbags deployed. I came through the ordeal without a scratch. I was also belted in. I don't remember the airbags going off and don't know what the outcome would have been without them. I'm a firm believer in belts and airbags.

To each their own. As Mark Twain said: "There are three types of lies. Lies, dam* (forum won't let me say the swear word) lies, and statistics". You can come up with statistics to support any view.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Seldom mention this. At age 19, in heavy delta fog on my way to Stockton Colberg Shipyard, lonely road, came across T-bone accident. Pickup truck. Five children in rear bed. Van that ran stop sign had driver pinned and screaming inside. Children were all thrown out. Pickup rolled atop them.

This has given me nightmares for fifty years. Please please follow the rules. It just isn't worth it.

[Jframpey]

Bigdogboogie wrote:
Interesting thread. I have no idea how many MVC's I've worked in my career but I have yet to see a serious injury or death due to air bags. Not saying it doesn't happen, Just haven't witnessed or heard of a verified incident in 17 years.

On the other hand I've cut quite a few people out of wrecked cars that I don't believe would have survived without air bag protection.

X2... retired firefighter 30 years - spent the last 10 as captain on a ladder/rescue.

[Bigdogboogie]

Interesting thread. I have no idea how many MVC's I've worked in my career but I have yet to see a serious injury or death due to air bags. Not saying it doesn't happen, Just haven't witnessed or heard of a verified incident in 17 years.

On the other hand I've cut quite a few people out of wrecked cars that I don't believe would have survived without air bag protection.

[neonjohn]

pickjare wrote:
I am sorry for anyone who is killed or injured in an accident that is the fault of an airbag. But I respectfully want to ask you to reconsider what airbags do for occupants. Though their are problems with them, when everything works correctly they can save your life! That is, when seat belt fastened correctly, head rest positioned correctly, and automobile has nothing that will cause airbags to malfunction. Right now many modern vehicles have multiple airbag related recalls from various manufacturers...those must be done too. Many people add on accessories such as seat covers that stop correct deployment, different bumpers that can cause impact sensors to read incorrectly, etc. I read your post and am not arguing anything, but I advise anyone who operates a vehicle with airbags to NOT disable them.

I appreciate your concern but I've personally seen too many needless injuries and at least one death from air bombs. The National Motorist Association shares my opinion and has done a great deal of research in this area.

Let's go back and examine my wreck in more detail. I had two different functions to perform about a second apart. First I had to try and steer away from the oncoming car. That attempt failed. That impact would have detonated the air bomb, had the vehicle been equipped with one. During detonation, the bag would have blown my hands off the wheel, making the second half impossible to accomplish.

The second half was, seeing that I was going down an embankment (more like 25 ft than the 6 I initially reported because the nose was buried up in the dirt at the bottom and the rear was still below road grade), I had to steer the rig into the direction we were headed to remove any lean and to make sure it didn't tip over. That effort was successful.

IF there had been an air bomb, it would have expended itself on the collision and been unavailable for the impact 20-something feet off the roadway. I would have been stunned from the explosion and my hands would have been off the wheel. I would have been at the mercy of the events unfolding.

One final item of note and then I really am going to shut up about air bombs. This is for those of you who believe in air bombs based on the NTHSA's statistics.

The National Driver's Association (a group for driving enthusiasts) smelled something rotten in the NTHSA's air bomb claims. So they investigated. Filed a few FOIA claims. Discovered what was really going on.

On the Uniform Traffic Incident Report form, there is a block for each vehicle titled "did air bag deploy". If the traffic officer checks that block, the NTHSA counts that as a life saved. This is how they cook the numbers to make themselves look so good.

That's all, folks
John

[drsteve]

fj12ryder wrote:

drsteve wrote:
X2.

Another thing to consider is, if a collision is so forceful that the seat belt or air bag injures you, what would the steering wheel and windshield have done? Or being throw around inside, or from the vehicle?

The problem, as mentioned earlier, is that some air bag injuries occur at low to moderate speeds, and you basically would have had no injuries if the airbag hadn't deployed.

A lot of auto accident injuries and fatalities occur in low to moderate speed crashes. According to NHTSA, half of fatalities are in low speed accidents. The data below is old, but it's probably reasonable to think not much has changed.

http://mpainesyd.com/idisk/Public/carsafety/paine_impact_speeds_jan07.pdf

[blofgren]

troubledwaters wrote:
I don't have a problem with those who don't wear a seat belt or who would endeavor to disable their air bags. I believe it leads to optimization of the gene pool.

:B

[troubledwaters]

I don't have a problem with those who don't wear a seat belt or who would endeavor to disable their air bags. I believe it leads to optimization of the gene pool.

[fj12ryder]

drsteve wrote:
X2.

Another thing to consider is, if a collision is so forceful that the seat belt or air bag injures you, what would the steering wheel and windshield have done? Or being throw around inside, or from the vehicle?

The problem, as mentioned earlier, is that some air bag injuries occur at low to moderate speeds, and you basically would have had no injuries if the airbag hadn't deployed.

[SidecarFlip]

Probably a Takata airbag. I see they filed for bankruptcy.