Recreation Vehicles

The government's highway safety agency will propose strongly worded labels for sport-utility vehicles, prompted by statistics showing their risk of rollover is double that of other vehicles. The labels proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would use bright colors and show a vehicle tipping sideways with the words: "Warning: High Risk of Rollover," according to documents obtained Wednesday by the Associated Press.

The top U.S. auto-safety official said Monday that there is no clear solution to the dangers light trucks pose to cars in crashes and that any future regulations to minimize the hazard should be broadly drawn. The remarks by National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Ricardo Martinez signal that so-called vehicle compatibility will take years to address with a variety of strategies that are likely to be employed by auto makers.

If your concept of a getaway is more middle of the road, consider hitting the brakes at Lake Isabella RV Resort, owned by Daniel Wasbin of Irvine. The California Travel Parks Assn. summoned Wasbin to an Oakland banquet recently to receive a plaque for Best RV Park (small park category) in all of California, Oregon and Nevada. There's no free bubbly, but Wasbin recently installed new barbecues at the RV sites in the southern Sierra Nevada. All yours for just $19.95 a night.

Afew years ago when Dorothy and David Counts, a husband-and-wife team of Canadian anthropologists, began applying for research grants to rent a recreational vehicle for a leisurely journey through California and the rest of the Sunbelt, their colleagues scoffed. Some thought it a clever subterfuge to escape the Toronto winter; others ridiculed their plan to devote years to studying the culture of "RVers," suggesting that an examination of Club Med might be next in order.

Rosa Ocampo, surrounded by weeping relatives, sang Christian hymns and prayed Friday as she buried seven members of her family who perished recently in a freak explosion during a Mexican vacation. "I didn't come here to say goodby to the children," said the 62-year-old La Puente woman, mother of two of the dead and grandmother of four. "I came to say I'm going to join them soon."

He was standing in the doorway of what seemed to be a cruise ship on wheels. It was parked among 900 recreation vehicles in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium at what claimed to be the largest RV show ever assembled. Bob Lee, president of Country Coach Inc., pointed to a small statue sitting on a coffee table in front of the soft leather couch.