Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 10-29-2015, 03:48 PM   #41
Rivet Master
 
1981 31' Excella II
New Market , Alabama
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 6,145
I was not trying to avoid fender bender. I was in fear for my life and my family. I was not experiencing road rage. The guy tried to kill us when he got in front and slammed on his brakes. I missed him hitting him by about 3 ft. When someone is actively trying to get you into a potentially fatal accident then it is him or me. I believed and still believe it was his intention to do me and my family bodily harm. There are some sick people out there. I would never pull a gun just because someone irritated me. I would also not chase them or try to run them off the road.

Perry

Quote:
Originally Posted by Protagonist View Post
I'm not going to debate the relative merits of showing a gun and using the threat of deadly force to avoid a fender-bender. I think it's a bad idea that could have gotten you jailed for road rage. You think it's a good idea. Neither of us will convince the other.

But this comes back to my recommendation of taking defensive driving courses. If you insist on maintaining a proper following distance even when some idiot tries to mess with you the way you describe, it takes all the fun out of it for him, because there would be no close call for him to get a thrill from. Likewise, if someone cuts in front of you closer than you'd like, your first instinct should be to slow down to increase your following distance, even before he can slam on the brakes, because you'll see him make his move before he's in position. When you drive defensively, you will have a better handle on all the traffic around you so you're less likely to be surprised by "swoop and squat" maneuvers, and you will also have a better handle on your possible escape maneuvers in the event you are surprised.

Here's an example from my personal experience. Just as you described, some yahoo cut me off and stomped his brakes, on I-10 in Kenner, Louisiana. But I was already slowing down to get back my following distance even as he started changing lanes, and avoided rear-ending him. He then proceeded to tool along down the Interstate at a mere 30mph, in violation of the 40mph minimum speed limit. I tried to get around, and he changed lanes to cut me off. I tried again, and he cut me off again. Repeat I don't remember how many times. Finally, a third car was coming up in the next lane over, and I took my chance. When the third car's right front fender was even with the yahoo's left rear fender, I changed lanes behind the third car. The yahoo was blocked from changing lanes and cutting me off again by the third car in his blind spot, and the game ended. It's true that the yahoo sideswiped the third car, and I do feel kind of bad for that. But the way I justify it, I didn't cause the accident between the yahoo and the third driver, the yahoo did. HE should have been driving defensively as well, and if he had he would have known that his lane change was blocked.
perryg114 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2015, 03:51 PM   #42
2 Rivet Member
 
1989 32' Excella
Sharon Springs , New York
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 75
There is definitely many good reasons NOT to display a weapon and aggravate an already dangerous situation. However, you must be ready to defend yourself and your family's lives against the thugs and unstable people on the roads. My experience comes from traveling the countryside in my RV,4-wheeler and motorcycle and I have been very lucky for the most part but your best defenses include leaving a good distance between the vehicles ahead of you, let people pass vs. sitting in your "blind" spots and always watching drivers and potential situations (brake lights ahead, weaving vehicles ahead and behind you, etc.) and look for an escape avenue if you need it. If you can, pull over and let the aggressor go by or get off the next exit. I think this buys you time, whether that be to call 911, escape/evade the aggressor or if all else fails, set up a defensive position of your choosing and prepare to engage. I'm sure many of you are aghast at my final choice, but our highways and cities can be very dangerous and the police can't be everywhere, you can be a victim if you want but not me.
I truly believe in the escalation of force doctrine where in my case the cell phone call to law enforcement is probably the most effective, next is a flare gun (very effective in disbursing crowds that the Taliban would send out to slow our convoys while passing through small towns in prep for an ambush, flares scared folks silly vs. harming them real bad with our .50 cal. MGs), then a legally owned handgun/shotgun. Dash-cams have their place and if they work when you need them and you remembered to turn it on that's great, but they also may serve as a memorial to your demise. In conclusion, take a defensive drivers course, a weapons safety course, first aid courses and give folks their "space" on the highway but always be ready to defend yourself...
Travel Safe,
James
Easyrider06 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2015, 04:10 PM   #43
Figment of My Imagination
 
Protagonist's Avatar
 
2012 Interstate Coach
From All Over , More Than Anywhere Else
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 10,868
Quote:
Originally Posted by perryg114 View Post
I was not experiencing road rage.
I'm not suggesting that you were experiencing road rage. What I'm saying is that by flashing a gun, if there was an accident, you could have been ACCUSED of road rage, and earned some jail time as a result.
Quote:
The guy tried to kill us when he got in front and slammed on his brakes.
Only if he was trying to kill himself as well; as the physics books say, force equals mass times acceleration, so if your vehicle is bigger than his— and it probably was since you were pulling a trailer and he wasn't, so you had the trailer's mass on your side— he'd have come off with worse injuries than you would.

But as I said before, you'll never convince me you were in the right, and I'll never convince you that you were in the wrong to flash a gun. Can we just drop it and move on?
__________________
I thought getting old would take longer!
Protagonist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2015, 04:13 PM   #44
Rivet Master
 
Ken J's Avatar
 
1956 22' Flying Cloud
Durango , Colorado
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: 1975 25' Tradewind
Posts: 3,491
Images: 14
A innocent 4 year old girl was shot and killed in Albuquerque last week riding in the back seat of her dads truck last week because of stupid road rage - someone eggs you on - just let them go - use guns for protection not crazyness


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums
__________________
1956 Flying Cloud
Founder :
Four Corners Unit
Albuquerque National Balloon Fiesta
Rally
Vintage Trailer Academy - Formerly the original
restoration rally
Ken J is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2015, 09:12 PM   #45
Rivet Master
 
Cannonball's Avatar
 
2024 23' Flying Cloud
San Antonio , Texas
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 501
Images: 1
I do not believe that anyone has addressed the fact that many individuals walking around out there have significant substance abuse problems. That may be alcohol, meth, heroin, prescription pain meds, weed or whatever. You cannot evaluate others by your filter. Expect the worst, hope for the best.


Cannonball, Deep in the Heart of Texas!

WBCCI #4387, Air #84080

Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums
Cannonball is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2015, 12:15 AM   #46
2 Rivet Member
 
martian's Avatar
 
2012 31' Classic
Naples , Florida
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 61
Images: 8
Quote:
Originally Posted by markdoane View Post
From reading these posts it seems that most of them happen in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama or Florida. I just stay away from those places.

I hear banjos.
You forgot to mention California, which was also citied as problem area in a couple of earlier postings. The purpose of the forum thread is to warn Airstreamers about criminals causing crashes on purpose for the insurance money. It's not about insulting people because where they live. Guess I'm not amused.
martian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2015, 06:53 AM   #47
Rivet Master
 
paiceman's Avatar
 
2020 28' Flying Cloud
Upper St Clair , Pennsylvania
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,943
Images: 1
Interesting thread. Some personal thoughts on the two subjects now being discussed that work for us and have for almost 50 years of travel, me almost every day for years. These road incidents can and do happen in every state and every city and town, it's just some people are so good one will not realize it's happened on purpose. I carry, my wife carry's as well and we have our whole lives. Licensed concealed in 42 states. In the one time I've felt the need with two people getting out of their vehicle very angry I did what I use to teach in a Firearms course. I told the individuals one on my side the other on my wife's side. "I have a weapon, my passenger has a weapon", "please both of you return to your vehicle until the police arrive as they have been called". I also say it loud enough so anyone near by can hear me. They ran to the car and left. We were lucky I felt, but used what I taught and it worked, never showed and never threatened just made a declarative statement, which I did not want to back up in anyway whatsoever, but could have.

On driving in situations where one might be an intentional victim. I drive in the far right hand lane, I drive slowly, not my norm. I do not allow us to get boxed by individuals I question. If someone suspicious pulls in front and to my left I simply put on my flashers and slow down to a stop if I need to, and have done so. On the interstate I've not run into anything yet, but might use the same tact or pull off on the shoulder with flashers on and I will call 911 if I feel threatened in any way.

Anyone with a nice TV and or nice AS is a potential target to scammers. Does it worry us, no, does it stop us, no. I am always on the look out for issues and situations, but that's my nature and training LONG time ago. To date we've been fortunate, some do to luck (better to be lucky than good) and some do to being observant.

Enjoy the AS, as Protanginist said take a defensive driving course and if you want to take a very - very good practical one take the Motorcycle Safety course offered in most states and bike dealers. The course does teach one how to ride on a motorcycle, but much more important it teaches one defensive driving like nothing I've every taken in my life and I drove a company vehicle my entire career and had to take a defensive driving course every year and then after a million no accident miles every other year.

My Best - Enjoy your Airstream you've earned it.

Bud
__________________
2020 28' Twin Flying Cloud
2021 F350 6.7 King Ranch
USAF Master Training Instructor (TI) & (MTI)- 68-72
Volunteer K9 Rehabilitator & Trainer
paiceman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2015, 07:22 AM   #48
Rivet Master
Commercial Member
 
Vintage Kin Owner
Naples , Florida
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 7,508
Great post Bud!

After riding for years, I took the MSF course for the insurance discount and whole heartedly agree about the insight into defensive driving that the course contains.


Lew Farber
RVIA/RVDA Nationally Certified Master Tech
Master Tech Energy Systems, Inc.
AM Solar Certified Installation Center
Lifeline Batteries**Magnum Inverters
541-490-6357
__________________
lewster
Solar Tech Energy Systems, Inc.
Victron Solar Components and Inverters, Zamp Solar Panels, LiFeBlue and Battle Born Lithium Batteries, Lifeline AGM Batteries
lewster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2015, 07:24 AM   #49
Rivet Master
 
InterBlog's Avatar
 
2007 Interstate
League City , Texas
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,139
To the dash cam posters - thanks for the product recommendations. I believe I will take the plunge. I don't mind spending the money if the product is reliable.

To the other commenters - you are correct - a dash cam won't prevent a staged accident and it may not prevent a settlement to make fraud go away. But it's one more piece of leverage that can be used as justifiable intimidation against a person intent on doing wrong. I've used my dash cams (when they worked) to warn people in our subdivision that if they insist on committing egregious moving violations, then I'm going to post videos of them on social media (and some of the vids I did post). Our previous chief of police confirmed for me that people usually cannot assert an expectation of privacy while in the public right of way (I cleared the vid posting with him before doing it). So at least in Texas jurisdictions, you can tape them and post them, they can threaten to sue you, but especially if they are behaving unlawfully in a public space, they have next to no chance of prevailing, so they are not going to go there. What you are doing in that case is clearly in the public interest, not an invasion of someone's privacy. "In the public interest" counts for a lot.

Regarding defensive driving - I can't say that it would have helped me in this situation, but I CAN tell you what DID help me. That article by AAA that I posted a link to... it was published in the hard copy of the Texas AAA magazine's November-December 2015 issue (I have Good Sam roadside assistance coverage on our Airstream but I have AAA on our cars). In my other car, my daily driver, I keep lower-priority reading material on hand for when I am either stopped dead in a traffic jam, or waiting in a parking lot to pick up my teenager. It was literally not 48 hours previously that I had read the article on staged crashes; the magazine was still folded open to that page on the passenger seat. So when I ask myself how in the name of hell we ever got off IH-45 in one piece, my answer is that the possibility of staged crash was in the forefront of my mind, and so I was freshly primed to respond to it. I don't think I would have succeeded without that. It was almost as if the hand of God was involved.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	20151030_AAA.JPG
Views:	93
Size:	154.1 KB
ID:	251356  
InterBlog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2015, 08:25 AM   #50
Rivet Master
 
1999 30' Excella 1000
small town , Maryland
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 802
After reading the posts above, I realized how widespread this problem is. Thanks to your inputs, I'm considering a dash cam and taking motorcycle safety course. With all the gadgets in the truck ie; Garmin, back-up camera, tire monitor system and now a dash cam. A airline pilot should feel right at home.
streaminwild is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2015, 12:30 PM   #51
Rivet Master
 
73shark's Avatar
 
2011 Interstate Coach
Overland Park , Kansas
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,798
Quote:
Originally Posted by streaminwild View Post
After reading the posts above, I realized how widespread this problem is. Thanks to your inputs, I'm considering a dash cam and taking motorcycle safety course. With all the gadgets in the truck ie; Garmin, back-up camera, tire monitor system and now a dash cam. A airline pilot should feel right at home.
Now you need to get a ScanGauge II to complete your instrumentation suite.
__________________
Glass half full or half empty to an engineer is the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

2011 Interstate SOLD! Upfitted 2017 Transit 350. SOLD!
73shark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2015, 12:31 PM   #52
1 Rivet Member
 
2013 30' International
Lisbon , New York
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 18
Good dash cams are affordable

Some good advice especially the reminder to drive defensively. I have to admit I would be concerned about getting a firearm involved in such a situation.

As concerns dash cams, I found this site helpful:

Best Dash Cams Of 2015

Good quality units can be had for under $200.
Sisu is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2015, 04:15 PM   #53
1 Rivet Member
 
j-ten-ner's Avatar
 
Currently Looking...
. , British Columbia
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 9
A dash cam is not only for your own benefit.
It can also support your statement as a witness in an accident.
The truck driver in the video was drunk as a sailor on shore leave and tried to blame the poor woman in the sedan.
When I gave my statement to the police, I also mentioned that I have footage of the accident.
As it turned out it wasn't needed. But it would have erased any doubts how the accident took place.



As for the guns...a gun can be taken from you and be used against you. Keep that in mind.

so long
j-ten-ner
j-ten-ner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 05:43 AM   #54
Rivet Master
 
InterBlog's Avatar
 
2007 Interstate
League City , Texas
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,139
As a follow-up to the dash cam component of this thread, here's a vid posted yesterday by a Roadtrek owner whose 2015 was totaled last week in a collision that wasn't his fault. It's not a Sprinter-based Roadtrek but it is a Class B, so it's useful for reference.

IMO, he did right thing here - he braked for all he was worth, but barely swerved because he really had nowhere to go, and he also had a vehicle with limited emergency maneuverability. There was simply no way to avoid that collision. It doesn't appear to have been intentional on the part of the at-fault party, but it sure was phenomenally stupid.

InterBlog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 08:03 AM   #55
cwf
Rivet Master
 
cwf's Avatar
 
1999 34' Excella
Currently Looking...
Hillsboro , Texas
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 6,406
Images: 2
Blog Entries: 2
Wow... Glad they survived to post!!!!
__________________
Peace and Blessings..
Channing
WBCCI# 30676
cwf is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 11:40 AM   #56
Rivet Master
 
InterBlog's Avatar
 
2007 Interstate
League City , Texas
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,139
Quote:
Originally Posted by cwf View Post
Wow... Glad they survived to post!!!!
It's a good demonstration of crash-worthiness technology. His engine / front end basically did its job and absorbed a great deal of the energy by collapsing. Which is why it's probably a write-off - there's basically no engine or engine compartment remaining.

I'm glad the owner survived as well, especially because he appears to be a very sweet person. He bought his Class B in part because his wife was terminally ill, and he wanted to be able to camp overnight in the parking lot of her palliative care facility when necessary, to be close to her. Of all the stealth ways to use a Class B, that one had never occurred to me as a possibility. Roadtreking blog has his story if anyone is interested.
InterBlog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:12 PM   #57
Figment of My Imagination
 
Protagonist's Avatar
 
2012 Interstate Coach
From All Over , More Than Anywhere Else
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 10,868
Quote:
Originally Posted by InterBlog View Post
He bought his Class B in part because his wife was terminally ill, and he wanted to be able to camp overnight in the parking lot of her palliative care facility when necessary, to be close to her. Of all the stealth ways to use a Class B, that one had never occurred to me as a possibility.
There are a number of hospitals that provide RV parking, with hookups, for relatives of inpatients. It's mostly larger hospitals with large campuses, of course.

However, my only experience with parking my Interstate at a hospital was when I had outpatient surgery scheduled at East Jefferson General Hospital (better known around here as EJ), but no one available to drive me home afterwards. They wouldn't let me take a taxi home, either, probably because I'd be too groggy to handle money responsibly as well. So I made arrangements in advance to bring my Interstate, so that I could take a nap after the treatment and only drive home once the anesthetic had run its course. I parked in a vacant paved lot near the parking garage, and the hospital provided me a nurse to wheel me out to my Interstate and help me inside.

If a hospital allows you to park an RV on the premises, it's only common courtesy to write a thank-you letter to the hospital administration afterwards.
__________________
I thought getting old would take longer!
Protagonist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:13 PM   #58
Rivet Master
 
1999 30' Excella 1000
small town , Maryland
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 802
Good posts j-ten-ner and InterBlog confirming dash cams usefulness,
streaminwild is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Beware, Beware, Beware! carver 1 Airstream Lifestyle 27 04-17-2015 06:03 PM
Stop Lights and Collisions fastrob Lights - Interior & Exterior 22 08-19-2005 11:39 AM
Buying mattress pad? beware of Camping World false ad. femuse Our Community 5 03-19-2003 06:55 PM


Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Airstream, Inc. or any of its affiliates. Airstream is a registered trademark of Airstream Inc. All rights reserved. Airstream trademark used under license to Social Knowledge LLC.



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:37 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.