Over the Next Hill by Dorothy Ayers Counts & David R. Counts

Author:Dorothy Ayers Counts & David R. Counts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Second Edition
Publisher: For the Benefit of Mr. Kite
Published: 2000-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Although the above exchange focussed on women’s lack of training in driving their rigs, inadequate initial preparation is not a gender issue. It may be a problem for many RVers. Our informants frequently criticized RV dealers for not asking potential buyers about their driving skills and background, or whether they know how to ready an RV for the road. Some dealers, our friends tell us, do not even explain to neophytes how to dump their holding tanks or switch their refrigerator from electric power to propane. Our experience of having a dealer’s mechanic spend hours with us reviewing safety features and hitching procedures is unusual. It is common for new RV owners who never drove anything larger than a stationwagon to leave the sales lots with a rig of more than 30 feet without instructions. Such inexperience can be dangerous. In October 1993, David had a conversation with a Colorado State Highway Patrol officer who had spent 17 years in a patrol car.

I described our research project and asked if he thought the increasing number of elderly people on the road with large RVs posed a problem. He didn’t bat an eye before replying it was a major problem. There is no training for such drivers. Furthermore, many of them never drove anything larger than a car before taking the wheel of a truck and trailer or a large motor home. This happens, he said, at an age when driving skills are likely deteriorating.

He gave an example of a serious accident involving an elderly couple who had just bought a 35-foot motor home. They had not been on the road long when, needing to use the toilet, the driver engaged the cruise control and walked to the rear of the rig. We could predict the rest, the officer said. The driver survived, and when asked what happened could only respond, ‘I don’t know. I had it on cruise control’. (From our 1993 journal)

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