good reason for trailer lights

[powerstroke444e]

I was back about 1/2mile when I seen this happen it involved 4-5 cars and trucks.

The saturn suv thing rear ended the trailer which was stoped in traffic at a fairly good speed as it is 45mph and the trailer A frame broke off the trailer which let the trailer proceed up in the the tailgate see 2nd photo and took most of the passanger side bed off the truck. The truck appeared to proceed forward and hit a caddy truck thing and tear it up also. There was a car that was in the mess to but dont know were it was in the chain.

Luckly the A frame hit the axle on the trailer and stoped it before it came in to the cab. Don't know if the trailer lights where working but I am sure the other driver didnt see them.

Less for the day???
buy a good trailer
make sure the lights work
keep your insurance paid up

Lets hope everyone was ok as I seen more than one person leave in ambulance.

 

[Whitnel]

That car was not going to stop even if there were good trailer lights. They should have been able to see the lights on the truck. They were Probably texting.

 

[aczlan]

That car was not going to stop even if there were good trailer lights. They should have been able to see the lights on the truck. They were Probably texting.

They will probbaly start a site like Dangerous Trailers.org and blame their crash on the person in front of them.

Aaron Z

 

[Diamondpilot]

I agree that no matter what that car SUV thing would not have stopped if there were 100 lights on the trailer. They were not paying attention. Its clearly their fault. The truck and trailer look well keep so my guess is the owner takes pride in his stuff and it was all up to snuff, including the trailer lights.

Chris

 

[2manyrocks]

The guy with the trailer probably wishes he had been somewhere else instead of being run over from behind.

 

[timswi]

I've followed countless trailers where the lights work either sometimes or not at all. I try to watch the truck if possible...If not, I stay as far away as possibe....

I vote for the SUV driver doing something other than driving.

I've been hit from behind a couple of times due to this. the drivers admitted it. Class IV hitches saved each truck...Can't say much for the hood and radiators of the offending vehicle though. One lady in a Camery hit me so hard that she went under the spare and picked the back wheels of my truck off of the ground. Had to put it in 4WD to get off of the car...The front of the Camery was destroyed, I lost a nice hitch plug and had a really stiff neck. Other than that, no damage at all.

 

[JDgreen227]

That car was not going to stop even if there were good trailer lights. They should have been able to see the lights on the truck. They were Probably texting.

That was my thought too, even if trailer lites were not working the pickup lights should have been visible. This is the kind of accident my cop neighbor would write up as:

"DWHA"......(driving with head up a--)

Know what baffles me, so many accidents I see are clearly the result of DWHA, I drove heavy commercial straight trucks for a living for 31 years, have driven my own vehicles since 1968 and have NEVER been at fault or caused an accident. Know why? I cannot hear...meaning I don't have a radio or cell phone or chatty passengers distracting me. But I cannot hear horns, sirens, etc either so that means I PAY ATTENTION AT ALL TIMES AND WATCH THE FRICKIN' ROAD AND OTHER TRAFFIC. I am sure that a good quarter of traffic accidents are a result of not paying attention.

 

[two_bit_score]

Saw an accident where a guy was pulling a camper trailer behind his truck and had an aluminum boat on a trailer behind the camper. Stopped at a light and was rear ended by a pickup whose driver evidently didn't slow down much a all. Shoved the boat off the trailer and into the camper trailer through the rear wall. When I saw it the rear 3' or so of the aluminum boat was sticking out of the back of the camper trailer very neatly and tightly.

Looking at the camper from the outside you couldn't tell anything was wrong with it until you opened the door and looked inside it was pretty much destroy inside.

Had pics but they were Polaroids.

 

[powerstroke444e]

Well the person in the truck could have been any one of us and the driver of the SUV could have been any average car that is following.

I would say it didn't look like the truck and trailer did anything but be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But on that road you almost always see a small wreck every morning.
Reason for the post was so that everyone would stop and think next time you are in traffic and pulling a trailer.

 

[Mounted Madness]

Dollars to donuts, the van driver was following TOO close, which is a habit by TOO many drivers. The 3 second rule is seldom used and suggested earlier in this thread, the driver was probably texting, on cell phone, or putting on makeup.

Whatever the cause, it must have been fairly low speed (ie: under 20mph) for the minimal damage. As long as no one was seriously hurt...the STUFF can be repaired or replaced. :thumbsup:

 

[dodge man]

I don't think following to close was the problem. It looks like the truck and trailer were stopped or mostly stopped and the SUV was moving along at a pretty good clip.

I was rear ended by a 16 year old kid on his way to prom. He had his license for about two weeks. Me and my wife were in a 72 Plymouth Sattelite that was a really nice car. The kid was driving his dads 1991 Chevy Impalla, which was brand new. My car was totalled out. I got out of the car and was looking to kick some butt, and there was about 5 kids standing around all wearing tuxs. All his buddies had pulled over also. I calmed down when I realized his date had just about gone through the windshield. God only knows where his hands were when he rear ended me.

 

[aczlan]

God only knows where his hands were when he rear ended me.

His mind was apparently not focused on driving

Aaron Z

 

[radioman]

I agree that no matter what that car SUV thing would not have stopped if there were 100 lights on the trailer. They were not paying attention. Its clearly their fault. The truck and trailer look well keep so my guess is the owner takes pride in his stuff and it was all up to snuff, including the trailer lights.

Chris

I agree X2. The only thing I will add is that those cheapo trailers are hard to see lights working or not if there are no landscape ramps on the back. It gives drivers something to gauge from at eye level when not looking down . I should know. I have one of those cheapos trailers and its amazing hard many people flips the bird or wave hand at me like they mad at me for their own terrible driving when my ramp is off temporary.

 

[atgreene]

That trailer website is eye opening! Wow, didn't realize there was a movement afoot to try to do more regulations on small trailers.

If the **** morons would learn the difference between 1 7/8 and 2" balls we wouldn't have to deal with more regulations. Sometimes we're our own worse enemy when dealing with some of this stuff though. Nobody fixes their trailer lights/brakes adding to the issue causing us more regulation.

 

[JDgreen227]

I have always wondered if a high mounted third brake light in the center of a rear ramp would make any difference. I am one of those weirdo's who always checks his hitch ball for tightness, uses a key lock to secure the hitch bar in the receiver, uses solid links and not S-hooks to secure safety chains, and checks his tire pressure and lights before moving his trailer off the property. Maybe because I own a $2000 utility trailer I tend to be more careful about it than those with the cheaper ones, but you never know. I remember back about 1984, I was in a Ford dealer's showroom looking at the new cars, and there was an accident out front. Didn't really pay that much attention back then, but I DO remember the utility trailer was a home made type, and the 4X4 WOOD POST the owner was using for a trailer tongue had broken...probably the steel one was rusted so bad the owner just bolted on the wood post to stiffen it.

 

[JDgreen227]

I don't think following to close was the problem. It looks like the truck and trailer were stopped or mostly stopped and the SUV was moving along at a pretty good clip.

I was rear ended by a 16 year old kid on his way to prom. He had his license for about two weeks. Me and my wife were in a 72 Plymouth Sattelite that was a really nice car. The kid was driving his dads 1991 Chevy Impalla, which was brand new. My car was totalled out. I got out of the car and was looking to kick some butt, and there was about 5 kids standing around all wearing tuxs. All his buddies had pulled over also. I calmed down when I realized his date had just about gone through the windshield. God only knows where his hands were when he rear ended me.

Did you feel guilty about ruining that kid's chances of "getting some" on prom night...:laughing:

 

[Diamondpilot]

God only knows where his hands were when he rear ended me.

He is still looking for his class ring.:laughing::laughing:

Chris

 

[dodge man]

He is still looking for his class ring.:laughing::laughing:

Chris

Chris, you owe me a new keyboard, because I just sprayed pop all over mine.

Yeah his date got a ride to the hospital in a amublance, while he sat in the back of a squad car and got a ticket.

 

[TheTrailerGuy]

I was back about 1/2mile when I seen this happen it involved 4-5 cars and trucks.

The saturn suv thing rear ended the trailer which was stoped in traffic at a fairly good speed as it is 45mph and the trailer A frame broke off the trailer which let the trailer proceed up in the the tailgate see 2nd photo and took most of the passanger side bed off the truck. The truck appeared to proceed forward and hit a caddy truck thing and tear it up also. There was a car that was in the mess to but dont know were it was in the chain.

Luckly the A frame hit the axle on the trailer and stoped it before it came in to the cab. Don't know if the trailer lights where working but I am sure the other driver didnt see them.

Less for the day???
buy a good trailer
make sure the lights work
keep your insurance paid up

Lets hope everyone was ok as I seen more than one person leave in ambulance.

Words well spoken my friend!