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| Federal Highway Administration photo |
Plan ahead. Map your route--don't just depend on your GPS system--it can get you into trouble. Plotting your route on an Internet mapping service like Google Maps can give you a bird's eye view of the streets, and by using the "satellite" function, you can zoom in on streets in detail to get a feel for areas that may be too narrow to negotiate.
Avoid high-traffic times. During the business week, traveling in early and late commuter traffic is a sure-fire recipe for nervous sweats. Sometimes weekends can be surprising--trying to travel through Las Vegas on a Saturday morning can be a mind-blower--everyone has the day off and wants to get somewhere else.
Special street conditions with a large rig can cause consternation. Making corners with a big rig or with a trailer behind requires keeping an eye on your rear end. When approaching a turn, take it wide, and keep an eye on your rear view mirror on the curb side. You don't want to "bark your shins" by dragging your rear tires (or trailer) up over the curb.
Similarly, "round abouts" or "traffic circles" are areas requiring close attention. Here you should keep tight to the curve and keep a close eye in your blind spot mirror. Here you need to watch out not just for your own rig, but for "idiot drivers" who want to play squeeze.
Approaching narrow sections of roadways it's important to be "lined up" in a good lane position. Keeping an eye on the right hand curb with your rear view mirror, line up your rig by staying inside the centerline, but not too-far in. Some motorhome drivers have found they can use their windshield centerpost as a reference point.
Got a back up camera on your rig? Don't just use it for backing up. Keep it turned on to keep a weather-eye on traffic behind you. And take full advantage of any extra eyes you have on board. The person in the right-hand seat should act as your navigator, keeping watch for upcoming turns, invisible traffic, and the like.
Want to know for sure where your rig fits in a narrow lane of traffic? Take your RV to a big empty parking lot with some lines painted on it.
ReplyDeleteDrive up to one of those lines and position your rig like the painted line was a lane centerline. Hop out and see how far inside "your lane" your rig is positioned. Too close to the centerline? Too far inside? Play with it until your rig is perfectly positioned.
Then, get back in the driver's seat, and use some little stickers or draw some big dots with a permanent marker right on the painted centerline as you see it through the windshield.
Now, you can line up those dots on the windshield with any lane centerline and be assured you know exactly where your RV is.
a similar tip is to put a piece of white tape on the bottom of the driver-side rear view mirror, in order to align the vehicle in the lane in which you are driving. Works much like a gun sight and easily allows the driver to maintain a "centered" position in the lane in which you are travelling.
ReplyDeleteBeware of "gotchas"! While attempting to transit through Quebec, Canada last year passing through south Montreal in our 40' motorhome we thought everything was going well until we encountered a detour which, of course, was only in French. What a thrill to have to detour through city streets and come upon a tunnel which, fortunately, had 12' clearance (we're 11.5). Needless to say, we will not be returning anywhere near Quebec in the future since they refuse to post English/French signage as the rest of Canada does.
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