Research done by Coming up for Aire (CufA) shows that a-class motorhome drivers show less social behaviour than c-class motorhome drivers

The study, which was self-funded by CufA, was conducted in Scandinavia at the height of the summer season. The social behaviour in question was defined as ‘raising one’s arm in recognition of an oncoming motorhome party’, or so-called ‘waving’. Both mundane and defensive waving was seen, and CufA believes that further research is required to determine the many subcategories of waving and the country of registration of the motorhome. For this study, the team focused purely on the distinction between A-class and C-class motorhome drivers. In total, the team tested the social behaviour of 100 A-class and 100 C-class motorhome drivers…yaaawn

So, I haven’t been writing many blog posts lately, and Jasper has been picking up my slack. I apologise. I am writing for a different project, and Jasper was nailing it, so I figured I’d let him do his thing. But I can’t hide forever, and what better time than this evening to tell you all about our little motorhome research! First, let me explain the difference between A-class and C-class motorhomes. The A-class motorhomes are the boxier bus-like models and the C-class models are built on a truck or van chassis. We have a C-class motorhome. For the people wondering, B-class are the vans and we left them out of the equation.

If you have ever driven a motorhome/campervan in Europe, then you are probably aware that many motorhome drivers wave at each other [I don’t know about the rest of the world, does the rest of the world wave as well?….let us know!]. It is like bikers raising a hand in recognition of each other or bus drivers sharing a moment of collegiality [I am still looking forward to the day that all bus passengers also start waving at each other if only to freak out the bus drivers]. It’s a friendly gesture of acknowledgement. A simple little ‘hello’ and ‘hi there’.

When we started our trip in April, we knew of this social behaviour from our previous little trips. What we didn’t realise is how many layers there are to the waving and how you can influence other people’s waving. There are so many levels to this behaviour! So…we did a test.

It all started when I mentioned one day that C-class motorhomers are friendlier than A-class motorhomers because they wave more often. Jasper responded that I couldn’t know that and shouldn’t make generalised statements like that without the information to back it up. He was right. I was making a statement without any concrete knowledge or research done. I quickly grabbed a pen and piece of paper, split it into columns with four vertical lines and created four categories—A-class, A-class wave, C-class, C-class wave—and started tallying.

Jasper and I can be quite competitive and are both very stubborn. This causes a lot of discussion in our lives, but sometimes it can be a pleasant motivator. We soon had teams going. I was, of course, in support of C-class motorhomes. Jasper had gone against my initial statement, so he naturally fell in line with the A-class campervans. Day one it all started as a bit of fun and games; the mood was light with happy waving to every camper we saw. But as days went by, it all became a lot more serious.

We soon realised that we could heavily influence the outcome of the research. This was, of course, a no-go, because…let’s face it…research. So, I did not frantically start ‘passenger waving’ as I called it—leaning in on the driver, grinning from ear to ear, looking the oncoming driver in the eye and waving simultaneously with the driver—every time we saw a C-class motorhome coming our way. And Jasper, in turn, did not put up his hand so far in advance that the driver of the A-class motorhome felt that he or she needed to raise a hand just to release Jasper from his wave.

Yes, we started guilt-tripping people into waving back at us. Waving became our ‘One Ring’, our ‘Ash Nazg’, our ‘Precious’. People who were unphased by our tactics were followed with a string of foul words upon passing, and people who added a friendlier than usual flick of the wrist became our closest friends. The one woman in Norway who almost fell out of her window waving back at us will never be forgotten. If you are she…we love you too!

Of course, this could not last. Summer was upon us, and there were more and more campers on the roads. Just south of Lofoten, I hit 100 C-class motorhomes. We had waved at 100 C-class motorhomes, and a grand total of 81 C-class motorhomes had waved back at us. Not a bad result, Jasper was still behind, but it was looking to be a close race. Then we arrived at Lofoten and from one day to the next everything changed.

No one waved anymore. The motorhome-car ratio on the roads was probably close to 4:1, so there was enough to wave at but it was as if it was too much. Too many people wanting to find that special spot for the night, too many people looking for the perfect photo opportunity or the perfect place to spend a night alone in the most amazing nature. Friend became foe and colleagues became enemies. We tried to remain positive, we needed our daily fix, but it was useless. The number of let-downs was immense. The waves we did get were emotionless, undistinguishable from a nose scratch. I stopped counting on Lofoten. It wasn’t fair. It would be too easy, and I wanted to win fair and square because that was what this was all about…honest research.

After Lofoten, we started passing people on their way south to Lofoten, and the waving picked up again. Our waving had become more sorrowful because the act had lost its charm. Too much of something isn’t good. We soon got back into it though and I started tallying again. One day before leaving Norway, we finally waved at our 100th A-class motorhome. Out of 100 A-class motorhomes, 74 had waved back.

BOOYAH!!! I was right all along. C-class motorhomers rule!!!

Research done by Coming up for Aire (CufA) shows that A-class motorhome drivers show less social behaviour than C-class motorhome drivers

The study, which was self-funded by CufA, was conducted in Scandinavia at the height of the summer season. The social behaviour in question was defined as ‘raising one’s arm in recognition of an oncoming motorhome party’, or so-called ‘waving’. Both mundane and defensive waving was seen, and CufA believes that further research is required to determine the many subcategories of waving and the country of registration of the motorhome. For this study, the team focused purely on the distinction between A-class and C-class motorhome drivers. In total, the team tested the social behaviour of 100 A-class and 100 C-class motorhome drivers…yaaawn

So, I haven’t been writing many blog posts lately, and Jasper has been picking up my slack. I apologise. I am writing for a different project, and Jasper was nailing it, so I figured I’d let him do his thing. But I can’t hide forever, and what better time than this evening to tell you all about our little motorhome research! First, let me explain the difference between A-class and C-class motorhomes. The A-class motorhomes are the boxier bus-like models and the C-class models are built on a truck or van chassis. We have a C-class motorhome. For the people wondering, B-class are the vans and we left them out of the equation.

If you have ever driven a motorhome/campervan in Europe, then you are probably aware that many motorhome drivers wave at each other [I don’t know about the rest of the world, does the rest of the world wave as well?….let us know!]. It is like bikers raising a hand in recognition of each other or bus drivers sharing a moment of collegiality [I am still looking forward to the day that all bus passengers also start waving at each other if only to freak out the bus drivers]. It’s a friendly gesture of acknowledgement. A simple little ‘hello’ and ‘hi there’.

When we started our trip in April, we knew of this social behaviour from our previous little trips. What we didn’t realise is how many layers there are to the waving and how you can influence other people’s waving. There are so many levels to this behaviour! So…we did a test.

It all started when I mentioned one day that C-class motorhomers are friendlier than A-class motorhomers because they wave more often. Jasper responded that I couldn’t know that and shouldn’t make generalised statements like that without the information to back it up. He was right. I was making a statement without any concrete knowledge or research done. I quickly grabbed a pen and piece of paper, split it into columns with four vertical lines and created four categories—A-class, A-class wave, C-class, C-class wave—and started tallying.

Jasper and I can be quite competitive and are both very stubborn. This causes a lot of discussion in our lives, but sometimes it can be a pleasant motivator. We soon had teams going. I was, of course, in support of C-class motorhomes. Jasper had gone against my initial statement, so he naturally fell in line with the A-class campervans. Day one it all started as a bit of fun and games; the mood was light with happy waving to every camper we saw. But as days went by, it all became a lot more serious.

We soon realised that we could heavily influence the outcome of the research. This was, of course, a no-go, because…let’s face it…research. So, I did not frantically start ‘passenger waving’ as I called it—leaning in on the driver, grinning from ear to ear, looking the oncoming driver in the eye and waving simultaneously with the driver—every time we saw a C-class motorhome coming our way. And Jasper, in turn, did not put up his hand so far in advance that the driver of the A-class motorhome felt that he or she needed to raise a hand just to release Jasper from his wave.

Yes, we started guilt-tripping people into waving back at us. Waving became our ‘One Ring’, our ‘Ash Nazg’, our ‘Precious’. People who were unphased by our tactics were followed with a string of foul words upon passing, and people who added a friendlier than usual flick of the wrist became our closest friends. The one woman in Norway who almost fell out of her window waving back at us will never be forgotten. If you are she…we love you too!

Of course, this could not last. Summer was upon us, and there were more and more campers on the roads. Just south of Lofoten, I hit 100 C-class motorhomes. We had waved at 100 C-class motorhomes, and a grand total of 81 C-class motorhomes had waved back at us. Not a bad result, Jasper was still behind, but it was looking to be a close race. Then we arrived at Lofoten and from one day to the next everything changed.

No one waved anymore. The motorhome-car ratio on the roads was probably close to 4:1, so there was enough to wave at but it was as if it was too much. Too many people wanting to find that special spot for the night, too many people looking for the perfect photo opportunity or the perfect place to spend a night alone in the most amazing nature. Friend became foe and colleagues became enemies. We tried to remain positive, we needed our daily fix, but it was useless. The number of let-downs was immense. The waves we did get were emotionless, undistinguishable from a nose scratch. I stopped counting on Lofoten. It wasn’t fair. It would be too easy, and I wanted to win fair and square because that was what this was all about…honest research.

After Lofoten, we started passing people on their way south to Lofoten, and the waving picked up again. Our waving had become more sorrowful because the act had lost its charm. Too much of something isn’t good. We soon got back into it though and I started tallying again. One day before leaving Norway, we finally waved at our 100th A-class motorhome. Out of 100 A-class motorhomes, 74 had waved back.

BOOYAH!!! I was right all along. C-class motorhomers rule!!!