Safety While Full timing

[Mariner]

Wherever we stay for any length of time I'm usually able to find a firing range to give me something to do. Like in Fl. for the winter I'll shoot a couple times a month. I carry a .22 Magnum rifle for plinking, an old 12ga. bolt action with a modified clip that carries 10 rounds which is a hoot to shoot, and my S&W .357. I've never used nor do I intend to use one in anger...but I will defend myself without hesitation. Oh, and we have a 75lb. Shepherd/Husky mix. I feel pretty safe with all that.

[AprilWhine]

Paranoia will steal your happiness. You're not going to enjoy RVing if you are constantly looking over your shoulder. As others have said, if a place makes you uncomfortable then move on.

 

People are a lot more afraid of nothing than they used to be. I retired in 2007, but during my career I flew all over the world on my own. I was a field engineer for combat system computers, I had to go on location to USN ships to repair problems beyond the capability of the crew. Sometimes I flew military transportation but normally I was on commercial flights and had to make my way to the ship on my own. I have used seedy taxis in the Middle East, rode trains in Japan when i couldn't read the destination sign, and had to wait for transportation in some less than savory areas. Except for getting my breast squeezed once and my but pinched several times (I had a very cute butt ) I never had any problems.

 

Hubby and I have been traveling in RVs since we retired. We have had no problems, but if either of us don't like the looks of an area we roll on. Except for a couple of lot lizards offering services to my hubby and one person prairie dogging to see into the bus, we haven't had anything interesting.

[sandsys]

We were weekend and vacation campers from very early days in our marriage and each of us with our families as kids. We fulltimed together for 3+ years and I went out solo during 3 winters after that. Only twice did we not stay where planned because it did not feel right. (Once was because a bear visited our tent site.) We never in those many years had any type of human confrontation that made us feel at risk.

 

Linda Sand

[Jack Mayer]

I agree with the others. After 15 years fulltiming we have never once been in a situation that I felt was sketchy. But perhaps I have lower (or is that higher) standards than others. I've been approached by people at rest areas before....but never really felt threatened....it was daylight and there were plenty of other people around. That is about the only "incident" I've encountered.

 

My advice about firearms (not that anyone cares about my advice) is that if you carry before fulltiming then you might wish to carry while fulltiming. If you are not familiar with firearms before fulltiming then I'd probably discourage acquisition JUST for fulltiming.

 

Frankly, I've had more "negative" interaction as a campground host or manager than I have while travelling or as a campground resident.

[gypsydan]

I've taught the subject and did RV full time including a trip to Alaska via Canada with my shotgun rifle over under. Here is my take on it as a professional firearms trainer in and out of the military: http://home.earthlink.net/~derekgore/rvroadiervfulltimingwhatisitreallylike/id85.html

Thank you for this article.

[budeneighe]

Jack nailed it! Do what you know and are familiar with. Your situational awareness , as AFChap put it, is what lowers your risks, not a weapon. Carrying a weapon when it is not one's normal "thing" can increase risks. As with any other new thing, consider yourself green with inexperience and automatically presume you will be living at a higher threat level when "in country", whether that is about geography or mindset.

 

I always thought that Full time RVing was about new experiences, not new threats that come with the territory, but that's just me.

[k4rs]

Another valid question might have been " how many people here have actually had a serious incident where they felt threatened while RVing". Or " how many RVers have ever needed a gun and used it for protection?" .

 

 

We have been fulltiming since 2003. We have been in 49 states (no bridge to Hawaii yet), most of the Canadian provinces, and Mexico. Only once in the last 12 years have we experienced a serious incident. It was an act of road rage that happened on an Interstate Highway, during a traffic jam. It was stop and go and we had been backed up for a while when a car passed us on the right shoulder. He then tried to pull into our lane right in front of us. Unfortunately there was not enough room. He ended up stopped cross ways. I hit the horn and literally had to lock up the brakes so I would not T-bone the idiot. The driver became enraged and exited his vehicle holding a tire iron. He started swinging it as he approached the front of my truck. Thankfully he came to his senses when I stepped out of my truck holding a Colt .45 auto. He glared at me for a few seconds, spit on the hood of my truck, then returned to his car.

 

Safe Travels...

[richfaa]

Never a problem .Was challenged by a large black bear once as to who owned the food on our campsite. It was the bears no contest.

[RV_]

You're welcome Gypsydan. As you saw my article agrees that the RV circuit never caused us to experience fear either. The advice to carry if you did before RVing, and not to if you are doing it only for RVing, is my advice as well. For those who RV my in depth article covers what to do if you find you are the one in a million and encounter a human predator. It covers what to do and consider in preparation before you hit the road. And tactics for an RV security problem.

 

But unlike pro gun, or anti gun advocates, I covered awareness and tactics for those who do carry, and for those who don't carry, similar tactics they can also use to deal with confrontations. It's all common sense once you learn it. It also all boils down to not stopping in unsafe areas. If you're not sure, don't stop.

 

Safe Travels!

[Nolan]

Spring of 2008. Mobile, AL. Was at a campground. Neighbor had a radio on outside a little to loud. I went out and asked him nicely. Or I thought I did. I asked if he could turn his radio down a little bit since I could hear it inside of our trailer. The dude about came unglued. Started screaming at me, went inside his trailer, slammed the door. I went back to our trailer. He went in and out of his trailer several times screaming and yelling. Slamming the trailer door each time. He then turned the radio up even louder. Took him a long time to calm down. He did turn the music down but still could hear it. I was worried for a while when we left to go sight-seeing on if he would do any damage to our truck and trailer. Nothing happened, but....

 

Otherwise in over ten years of full-timing. No other worries.

[Kirk W]

Been camping in some way most of my 73 years of life, owned RVs since 1972, was fulltimbe for 11+ years and in all of that time only once were we in any preceved danger and that turned out well. RV travel is one of the safest activities that one can participate in.

[StarDreamers.us]

Very good information. Thanks for sharing.

 

Safe Travels!

[trailertraveler]

I agree that the dangers from others while camping/rving is minimal. The dangers of traveling in a motor vehicle is a different story. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle accidents are in the top ten causes of death in most years.

 

A fairly detailed analysis of NHTSA motor vehicle accident fatality data by a member of another forum concluded that the fatility rate for motorhomes was 1.63 per 100 million vehicle miles travelled versus 1.48 average for all vehicles and 1.0 for passenger cars. They also found a clustering of fatalities around ages in the 60s.

 

So, the biggest safety hazard involved in RVing may well be in getting to rather than in the campground/RV park.

[Legendsk]

I agree that the dangers from others while camping/rving is minimal. The dangers of traveling in a motor vehicle is a different story. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle accidents are in the top ten causes of death in most years.

 

A fairly detailed analysis of NHTSA motor vehicle accident fatality data by a member of another forum concluded that the fatility rate for motorhomes was 1.63 per 100 million vehicle miles travelled versus 1.48 average for all vehicles and 1.0 for passenger cars. They also found a clustering of fatalities around ages in the 60s.

 

So, the biggest safety hazard involved in RVing may well be in getting to rather than in the campground/RV park.

That same NHTSA data base shows that African-Americans are twice as likely as Caucasions to be killed in the same or equivalent accidents??? I have been trying to convince my son-in-law (who happens to be African-American) that is because crash test dummies are not available in any color except pale pink and so the tests are actually discriminatory. I don't think he's really buying that yet, but I fully expect some racist to jump on it one of these days.

[budeneighe]

Given the age of the data this analysis was based on (2001) and the dates it was performed (2009), there have been a lot of changes in the world of RVers and equipment. A lot of "el cheapo" unit makers have gone out of business. Three factors distort reality since 2001; 9/11 and the economics of the years that followed, the changes in fuel costs. and the flush of "boomers" into this arena makes it impossible to interpolate future years.

 

It is merely an interesting attempt to scale very old (and sketchy) data to the present.

[trailertraveler]

So Legensk and Budd, I take it that you don't think the risk of being injured or killed in a traffic accident is greater than being accosted in a campground or RV park? My main point was to question/counter the statement:

...RV travel is one of the safest activities that one can participate in...

which I do not believe can be supported by any data at all.

[budeneighe]

This is apples and oranges and there is no relationship between them. It is like saying if a woman can have a baby in 9 months then 9 women could have it in just 1 month. The terminology is similar but there is no relationship to the outcomes.

 

It is all on an individual basis. How one thinks, lives, perceives their environment. There is no one size fits all way to set any meaningful evaluation. Plus, that data was all before the ISIS threat and the lone gunman directives. Today, everyone in the world is at a higher risk of dying than they were in 2000. This includes RVers but not because they are RVers. Just because they are people.

[trailertraveler]

Wow! Traveling in a vehicle is likely one of the riskier behaviors that many folks engage in on a regular basis. Last I checked, RVs were considered vehicles and are included in accident statistics. If vehicle safety is not a concern for RVers; there is a lot of wasted talk on this and other RV forums about weight limits, TPMS, etc., etc. I suppose RV driving school is just a scam to fleece new RVers. It seems to me that Travel in an RV would be rather difficult without being on the highways. Then again, it is time for me to relocate so Beam Me Up Scotty.

[Legendsk]

So Legensk and Budd, I take it that you don't think the risk of being injured or killed in a traffic accident is greater than being accosted in a campground or RV park? My main point was to question/counter the statement:

which I do not believe can be supported by any data at all.

I'm not sure what caused you to think that I felt that way, I don't! If my facitious, sarcastic comment about the crash test dummies was taken seriously, I sincerely apologize. I did not mean to imply that traffic safety is not important. It is clearly more important for instance, than gun control.

 

I do believe for most folks, the most likely cause of injury and maybe death is in fact, a traffic accident. People are generally under the illusion that they are in control of the vehicle they are driving. Even if true, that can change in the blink of an eye from an almost infinite number of causes. Certainly for some people, maybe even some RVers, their individual choices, life style, hazard recognition, etc., might make other possibilities higher than traffic accidents. But I also believe that the population of RVers is older, more experienced, more cautious and less risk tolerant than the general population and makes them less likely to be injured or killed in a traffic accident and more likely to die in their bed. Unfortunately they are also more likely to be slower reacting, less observent and all those aging factors that are inevitible, so the end result is probably not so different from the average motorist. The only certainty is that we are all going to die somehow.

[Kirk W]

Wow! Traveling in a vehicle is likely one of the riskier behaviors that many folks engage in on a regular basis.

I don't believe that anyone has said nor implied that at all. For most of us vehicle travel is a part of our lives every day, no matter what lifestyle we happen to be participating in. But RV travel is much more than moving down the highways and as a lifestyle, it has a much lower risk level over all than most other activities that we choose to participate in. Most of us spend a fairly small part of the time involved in RV travels out on the highways. Even fulltimers generally spend only a very small share of our RV experience moving down the highways, and that can be easily documented if you wish to do so.

[trailertraveler]

...For most of us vehicle travel is a part of our lives every day, no matter what lifestyle we happen to be participating in...Most of us spend a fairly small part of the time involved in RV travels out on the highways. Even fulltimers generally spend only a very small share of our RV experience moving down the highways...

Acceptance of a risk does not mean it does not exist. Complacency and inattentiveness are contributing factors in many types of accidents. Driving a large, heavy vehicle requires a different skill set than driving a passenger car. In general skills deteriorate with non-use, so infrequent/less miles driving a large vehicle might result in greater risk per actual mile driven.

 

The point I was trying to make to the OP, was that in my opinion and based on at least some data, the risk of being injured in an accident on the highway was very likely greater than that of being injured in a campground by another person or wild animal.

[reed and elaine]

Safety is probably more in making sure vehicles are in excellent shape, tires are in excellent shape and properly inflated, weights are well within limits, and driving within speed limits in daylight and good weather.

 

Reed and Elaine

[Kirk W]

The point I was trying to make to the OP, was that in my opinion and based on at least some data, the risk of being injured in an accident on the highway was very likely greater than that of being injured in a campground by another person or wild animal.

As far as I can determine, nobody has disagreed with that view. The original post was about RVing safety in general. The author of that post has not been back since 9/21 so has likely lost interest in this, as have I.

[Yarome]

Safety is probably more in making sure vehicles are in excellent shape, tires are in excellent shape and properly inflated, weights are well within limits, and driving within speed limits in daylight and good weather.

 

Reed and Elaine

 

Right on the money!

 

I missed a couple of days and 'missed the beat' where this thread switched from personal safety on the road to a debate on vehicular statistics.

[sushidog]

Choosing to ignore a minor risk just because there is a greater risk that one also needs to be safety conscious about is false logic. That's like saying that because heart disease kills 5 times as many women as breast cancer, there is no need to get a mammogram, as women will surely die of heart disease before breast cancer.

 

If there is a simple, easy way of avoiding or minimize a danger, regardless of the statistical risk it might pose, I think it is prudent to prepare, if only by buying insurance. In the case of physical danger from an assailant, some means of protection one feels comfortable with seems like a wise decision, whether it be situation avoidance (my first, but not always practical choice), additional lighting, an alarm system, bear spray, a firearm, etc..

 

When prioritizing risk assessment, in addition to the statistical odds of an event occurring, one must also consider the danger of the event. In other words, one might decide to purchase an umbrella as the statistical chance of getting caught in a shower is high, but there is little chance of being physically harmed if one encounters precipitation. However choosing to not park under a tall tree in the middle of an open field, to avoid a rare, yet potentially deadly lightening strike, will be of better safety value than purchasing an umbrella. Agreed?

 

So if one is already a safe driver, wears seatbelts, keeps their equipment well maintained and well within safety limits, avoids hazardous conditions when driving, etc. one has done all a prudent person can to minimize that particular risk. Now is time to move on and consider other risks to one's safety which though statistically smaller are now worthy of consideration. It may be more risky to swim at the beach, due to rip tides, sea creatures, etc., but people also drown in swimming pools and bath tubs, right? That's why I prefer showers.

 

Chip