[Archived]

Jon, like you, I had no interest in devices like Vorad and it certainly was not on my list of options when hunting for our coach. Now that I have it, my opinion has changed. Changed dramatically.

Anything that improves safety does just that, improves safety. It does not take the place of a professional driver nor remove any responsibility from the driver.

Just like a backup camera on the bus or rear proximity sensors on a car. They don’t replace the driver’s actions, only provide another input.

Don’t knock it until you try it. A couple of trips and you may have a different opinion of the value of active collision avoidance technology.

[Bill]

Please do not misinterpret my comments as even suggesting I would delete those items from the build sheet if I ordered a coach.

But I feel very strongly that none of us should ever drive such that those safety devices are activated or engaged. The best example I can offer is ABS. I have had that on cars for a very long period of time, and have many miles of driving those cars on snow covered and icy roads. I never had the ABS activate unless I was intentionally driving like an idiot. Back in the day I enjoyed speeds greatly in excess of legal limits on snow covered roads because I knew no cop was ever going to set up radar and I enjoyed keeping my speeding car between the ditches so I knew my ABS worked and worked well. But in normal family driving I never activated it.

I don’t tailgate. I don’t exceed the limits on the yellow signs such as the off ramp. I love the concept of the stability control, ABS and adaptive braking, but so far, so good I don’t think I have ever driven such that any of them would have engaged.

I admit I have zero control over the car that cuts too closely in front of me, and also admit I would be unhappy if the adaptive braking activates every time that happens. When it does I just back off and prefer to not have the machine do it for me.

[Tim]

I want to support what Jon has to say.

I doubt I will ever own or drive a coach that has all these late model safety features. If I had them on my coach, I would probably leave them activated to back me up. But I would never rely on them.

I liken all these great features to four wheel drive on a car or truck. Growing up in NE Wisconsin (lots of snow and ice) my Dad always had a Willys Jeep, International Scout, or Chevy Blazer with 4WD. Back in those days 4WD was very rare; almost all pickup trucks were two wheel drive. I took my drivers license test in the Scout and used it quite a bit.

I quickly found out that 4WD didn’t turn a snow covered or icy road into bare, dry blacktop! You couldn’t go as fast as you thought you could go without some unwanted consequences. Granted I wasn’t as apt to get stuck in a snowstorm with the Scout or Blazer as I would have with my Mother’s station wagon. But the Scout stopped just as slow on ice as the station wagon did.

I learned that 4WD helped in deep snow or on icy roads, but I still had to drive prudently. I found the same thing applied to RWD vehicles with posi-traction, front wheel drive vehicles, and vehicles with anti-lock brakes and/or traction control.

The next time you’re driving on snow covered and/or icy roads, pay attention to the vehicles in the ditch or median. I think you’ll conclude the same thing I have: a disproportionate share of the vehicles in the ditch or median likely have 4WD! After studying this subject for a number of years, I’ve concluded that too often a vehicle having 4WD gives the driver the mistaken idea that 4WD (and probably ABS, traction control, etc.) adds steriods to their driving abilities. It doesn’t.

Use these new, high tech tools on your coach to compliment your prudent driving practices.

[Jerry]

Snow roads and 4 wheel or all wheel drive are a recipe for disaster. Back in the day before all wheel drive was common we had 4 wheel drive vehicles and in our house we had a rule. They were only put into 4 wheel drive to get us out of trouble.

Until I got my first Audi Quattro all my driving experience was with 2 wheel drive including those that had 4 wheel drive because I felt the 4 wheel drive could be over driven to the point it would get you deeper in trouble than the 4WD would get you out of. Fortunately neither Di or I ever ended up on the end of a hook despite winters averaging 240 inches of snow annually.

I will freely admit I drove the Audi like a complete maniac. I drove exactly like the people I complain about now.