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To A or to Super C?

For anyone out there trying to decide upon which type of motor coach to purchase, this post is for you. MARIS is a Super C, which means it has a cab-over semi-truck with the engine in front. MARIS is a diesel. A Class A is the bus-style coach with the engine in back.

The best way to compare these two types of vehicles is to discuss why we went with a Super C. The biggest reason is demonstrated by the photo below.

In a Class A, there isn't much between you and the object that impacts you.

To be honest, Motorcoaches make up such a small portion of the vehicles on the road that there has not been much in the way of safety standards or testing. My attempt at getting statistics to use turned out to be pretty much a bust. I am very much a stats and facts girl so I was pretty disappointed about that. I'll state what facts I can come up with, anyhow.

Cars and trucks have airbags but neither Class A coaches nor Super Cs do. They have seat belts so in the event of an accident the risk of injury is higher. How much higher, I don't know. Also, since there is no division between driver and coach, any object behind the driver becomes a projectile in an accident. That could be children, pets, knives, anything! The idea of the kids sprawled out on the bed or the wifey making lunch while traveling is nice, but in the event of an accident it isn't so nice.

One other consideration regarding safety is the construction of the coach. Coaches of all types as well as fifth-wheels and trailers are constructed of veneer and thin plywood within a thin aluminum or fiberglass shell. This is great for the purpose of reducing weight but not overly sturdy in an accident.

The good news is that most accidents are preventable. From what I read, most motor coach accidents are from:

  • Inexperienced drivers

  • Speeding

  • Fatigued driving

  • Overloading

  • Runaway trailers

  • Rollover caused by higher center gravity

  • Poorly calculated turns

  • Miscalculated stopping distances for heavy vehicles

  • Poorly balanced loads

  • A driver’s failure to see a car in the recreational vehicle’s large blind spot

(http://www.traceylawfirm.com/Blog/2015/June/Recreational-Vehicle-RV-Accident-Facts-Stats.html)

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