Great freedom, great danger

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Travel flexibly and independently, always carrying your home with you: mobile homes are booming like never before. And especially since the Corona pandemic: 87,416 campers were registered in Switzerland in 2022 – a 26 percent increase compared to 2018 before Corona!

However, mobile vehicles, some of which weigh significantly more than 3.5 tons, not only offer great freedom, but can also pose a great danger to passengers and other road users: sheer mass leads to limited dynamics and maneuverability; can cause serious accidents. Baloise Insurance, together with the cantonal police in Basel-Stadt and the MyCamper internet platform, have impressively demonstrated how dangerous mobile homes can actually be, with various crash tests at the Dynamic Test Center DTC in Vauffelin BE.

Tip 1: Install correctly

Due to their size, mobile homes have a very high center of gravity. The higher this value, the easier it is for the vehicle to get off the road and in the worst case, it could overturn, for example in the event of a sudden evasive manoeuvre. To make the caravan more stable, the center of gravity should be shifted as low as possible. Heavy items such as suitcases or refrigerators should be stowed at the bottom, and light items such as clothing or cleaning utensils should be stowed at the top. In general, experts recommend keeping as little cargo on board as possible: this makes the caravan lighter and reduces the risk of exceeding the permissible total weight – and with it the risk of fines (also interesting: being overweight is expensive).

Tip 2: Secure it well

In addition, it is extremely important to fix the items inside and on the vehicle. Otherwise, flying things can turn into deadly projectiles during evasive maneuvers or accidents. Even when you hit a stationary truck at 60 km/h, pots, cutlery and glasses fly out like bullets. Even permanently installed tables and cabinet walls are partially dismantled from the holder – there is a huge risk of injury to passers-by on board.

But even bulky items attached to the outside of the caravan, such as surfboards on the roof or e-bikes on the bike rack, can pose a significant risk to other road users in a collision if they come loose and fly uncontrollably.

Tip 3: Sit right

However, a properly secured load is useless if the occupants are not properly seated while driving. During crash testing at DTC, the camper’s driver is properly strapped in, but his passenger puts his legs on the dash to relieve stress – this can be comfortable, but it’s also extremely dangerous. In addition, another person at the back table is unbuckled, and one person in the sleeping cabin is not secured on the plane – a dog sleeps on the couch instead of being secured in a fixed box.

After crashing into the truck at 60 km/h, complete destruction reigns: the driver is trapped by the impact force of the engine block, the passenger’s legs are crushed, the sleeping passenger is violently thrown against the wall. Despite serious injuries, all three would survive. The situation is different for the person in the back and their dog, who are not wearing seat belts: They are thrown against the interior walls so violently that they die on the spot – fortunately, the passengers were just crash test dummies.

Tip #4: Newer is better

Instead of buying a new and sometimes outrageously expensive mobile home, many interested people are switching to older models on the second-hand market (also interesting: you make these mistakes when buying a campervan). Although these are usually much cheaper and offer retro appeal to the style conscious, they can quickly look quite old in a crash, as comparisons of different vehicles show during emergency braking. A car and a mobile home with modern technology and driving assistants stay in almost the same spot on asphalt and sliding surfaces, while the outdated mobile home without ABS and ESP has a significantly longer braking distance. As with the crashed vehicle, if the tires and braking systems are showing their age, a simple emergency stop can result in a fiasco.

“It soon became clear that deficiencies in the tires and braking system, such as aging, quality and maintenance, could also lead to longer braking distances. “However, with a well-maintained braking system, the mass of the vehicle does not have a direct effect on the length of the stopping distance,” says Daniel Junker, Head of Vehicle Specialists at Baloise. «A caravan must be inspected before every trip and be in perfect technical condition.»

Tip 5: Calculate enough time

As with anything, the same goes for campers: practice makes perfect. Anyone who travels only once or twice a year often lacks a routine: “Many drivers are not accustomed to the size and weight of vehicles,” explains Albin Hugentobler (46), of Kapo Basel-Stadt. “It’s much more important that you get used to the mobile home beforehand and allow enough time for the actual journey.” In particular, fatigue, but also lack of load securing and overloading are important risk factors for caravans. Vacation-hungry campers should always be aware of this.

Source: Blick