By: Bob Gummersall, RVers Online Advisor
I was recently allowed to analyze the causes of a motor home roll over accident and here's what I found. This is the scenario. The time of day was 11 am, and the weather was clear and warm. The road was dry, asphalt, and narrow. An 18 wheeler was coming against a luxury motor home at a curve that went to truck's right. The truck was traveling about 50 mph and taking the long radius of the curve and in the lane of the oncoming motor home. The motor home was traveling at about 35 mph when he saw the truck coming around the curve in his lane about 100 yards ahead. This 40' 33,000 lb. motor home was towing a 3,600 lb. Jeep Grand Cherokee that did not have a toad braking system. There was a rut about 6 inches deep on the right side of the motor home's lane and a steep drop-off from that point down into a 30 foot deep gully. In response to this situation, the motor home driver stomped on the brakes, leaving two solid tire marks about 20 feet long on the asphalt roadway in the normal location that the two right rear tires would have been . Obviously the rear wheels locked up and the ABS system did not work. The rear of the motor home jack knifed to the right into the rut and then further until it was sliding with part of the suspension dragging on the high point of the side of the right lane. The rut ended with a paved turn out. This pavement caught the right rear dual tires of the motor home, causing the motor home to gently roll over on its side. By then the speed was so slow that the motor home did not slide on it's side once it had rolled over. The Jeep broke away from it's ball hitch type tow bar and the safety cables connectors failed. It broke away and rolled over into the gully. The truck driver continued without stopping, having dodged the motor home back on his side of the road. The front tires of the motor home never left the pavement. Mercifully there were no serious personal injuries. The motor home and the Jeep were a total loss.
What do you think caused this accident? Here's my opinion and I'd be interested in other opinions if you care to email me at bobg@cmn.net. I have ranked the causes from most contributory to least contributory. Cause number 1 and most significant is the truck driver driving in the oncoming lane. Cause number 2 was the ABS system on the coach failed and the rear brakes where not properly adjusted. Cause number 3 was the motor home driver over reacted to the situation by stomping on the air brakes which would have been the proper response if the ABS system had been working. When the rig started to jack knife, the driver should have let off on the brakes and tried to steer out of trouble. Cause number 4 was the Jeep pushed the motor home further into the jack knife.
If the Jeep had a toad brake installed, it might have prevented the jack kife because it would have pulled the motor home back towards the road. If the ABS brakes had been operating, the coach probably would have stopped in a very short distance while the motor home proceeded straight ahead. If the brakes had been properly adjusted, all four tires would have left rubber on the roadway. As with most accidents, there are many contributing factors and it's hard to go try it again, eliminating any one of the causes to see what would have happened. We were not there, so it's hard to know if there was something else that might have contributed.
I have written much on the subject of RV Safety on this Web Site and think that this RV driver might not have gotten into this accident if he had read and agreed with the information that I have presented. I can't do anything about that truck driver, but I can address the other causes. If this driver knew that the ABS system was inoperative the accident might not have happened. I have recommend testing the complete braking system periodically for proper operation. ABS brakes can be tested by driving on an unoccupied gravel road at 20 miles per hour and then pressing the brake pedal hard. The ABS system will pulse the brakes so that the wheels do not lock up and you can feel this pulsation through the brake pedal. The gravel road will allow you to test the ABS system without braking all the dishes and glass bottles in your rig because the tires slide better if the ABS system fails and the wheels lockup.
If this driver had practiced emergency stopping he would have been better prepared to handle this emergency. The driver was new to Air Brakes in this case, even though he had a lot of experience driving heavy rigs with hydraulic brakes. Had this driver read and practiced the techniques outline in my article entitled "Safe Driving and RV" he would probably faired better.
I strongly recommend toad braking systems for all vehicles being towed behind a motor home. I have written many articles on toad braking systems that are posed on this Web Site. This driver had intended to get a toad brake for his Jeep, but just hadn't gotten around to it. What can I say.
I hope by reading about this accident,
we can all learn more about how important it is to have training,
experience and the proper equipment. Safe Rving..