Ian
Well-known member
Now this is something that surprises me but I have been seeing folks post about walking around and doing things in their A or C Class while somebody is driving. I have just seen a post where somebody lets his children travel in the 5'er while highway mobile.
Let me add a little disclaimer - I don't have an RV nor have I been in a van since childhood - but I have had a License to drive since '72 and done a lot of miles since then. I don't want to be seen as a newbie trying to teach RV'ers how to suck eggs but I just shudder when I read stories like that. And I am not writing this post just to stir up a fight so no nastygrams please, this is a serious question on a topic that I'm very serious about.
OK, down under with our National Road rules, everybody must be sitting in an approved seat and be wearing a seat belt while the vehicle is moving. No exceptions. All of our long distance buses and even our School Buses are being converted so that they have proper Lap/Sash seat belts. Travelling unrestrained in a 5'er/ Travel Trailer/Caravan is simply something that - when caught - would put the driver in a whole world of legal bother.
Perhaps once in a while you may get away with the co-pilot sneaking down the back for a quick cuppa - so long as the law didn't drive past and notice somebody moving, but it is against the law, and also against anything they teach us about safety.
Heck, they have just tightened up the Australian Design Rules about RV's so that they may only state the Berth Capacity equal to the seat-belted positions and no more. No seat belt, no sleeping capacity. You might have 6 Berth capacity but if you have only 4 Seats with seat belts then 4's the Capacity for Sleeping that you can state. Now that shows to me that they are pretty serious about these things.
I accept that you have dozens of States and just as many different interpretations of what is Law and what is Safety. We now have one National law and it is all I can go by because it is all that I know.
So why do people take these kinds of risks when pulling off to the side of the road for a few minutes to brew up can give the driver a break as well as the passengers, and remain fully with the law and with road safety? And as for letting anybody travel in a towed vehicle, NO WAY, I just don't get it. With the numbers of idiots out on the road today, and the situations that you can get in even if you are doing the right thing, taking risks just increases the chances of something serious happening.
Or am I just being a grump?
Let me add a little disclaimer - I don't have an RV nor have I been in a van since childhood - but I have had a License to drive since '72 and done a lot of miles since then. I don't want to be seen as a newbie trying to teach RV'ers how to suck eggs but I just shudder when I read stories like that. And I am not writing this post just to stir up a fight so no nastygrams please, this is a serious question on a topic that I'm very serious about.
OK, down under with our National Road rules, everybody must be sitting in an approved seat and be wearing a seat belt while the vehicle is moving. No exceptions. All of our long distance buses and even our School Buses are being converted so that they have proper Lap/Sash seat belts. Travelling unrestrained in a 5'er/ Travel Trailer/Caravan is simply something that - when caught - would put the driver in a whole world of legal bother.
Perhaps once in a while you may get away with the co-pilot sneaking down the back for a quick cuppa - so long as the law didn't drive past and notice somebody moving, but it is against the law, and also against anything they teach us about safety.
Heck, they have just tightened up the Australian Design Rules about RV's so that they may only state the Berth Capacity equal to the seat-belted positions and no more. No seat belt, no sleeping capacity. You might have 6 Berth capacity but if you have only 4 Seats with seat belts then 4's the Capacity for Sleeping that you can state. Now that shows to me that they are pretty serious about these things.
I accept that you have dozens of States and just as many different interpretations of what is Law and what is Safety. We now have one National law and it is all I can go by because it is all that I know.
So why do people take these kinds of risks when pulling off to the side of the road for a few minutes to brew up can give the driver a break as well as the passengers, and remain fully with the law and with road safety? And as for letting anybody travel in a towed vehicle, NO WAY, I just don't get it. With the numbers of idiots out on the road today, and the situations that you can get in even if you are doing the right thing, taking risks just increases the chances of something serious happening.
Or am I just being a grump?