Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[two_bit_score]

Deleted double post

 

[GManBart]

I just saw this today...wish I could have gotten a better picture of it. 70mph zone, this guy was wandering all over the road, but mostly off onto the shoulder as you can see in the picture. The right two tires were maybe a bit over 50% inflated, so it was good he was only going about 50mph. When I passed him, he was talking on his cell phone, but holding it in front of him and yelling...with the window open. It's no wonder he was all over the road!

I didn't get what model mini-ex that was, but the trailer looked a bit light for it. You can also see my newly cracked windshield with the stone impact in the center :-(

 

[mljenkins]

I found this compilation of tow fails on YouTube (Ultimate Towing Fail Win Compilation). Sorry if it has been posted before. I don't recall seeing it in the past year I've been following this thread

https://youtu.be/2Yle2DXrkbk

 

[4570Man]

I saw this a few months ago.

 

[California]

I saw this a few months ago.

Wow. What is that tow vehicle? Maybe a little too light for the trailer?

I came upon the same thing westbound down from Donner Summit, way back when retired people drove huge Cadillacs. They were hanging upside down in their seatbelts, unhurt, but wrong side up. The debris looked like it had slid upside-down for quite a ways.

 

[fordmantpw]

Wow. What is that tow vehicle? Maybe a little too light for the trailer?

That's an F150, perfectly capable of towing that short travel trailer.

 

[California]

That's an F150, perfectly capable of towing that short travel trailer.

So then pure driver error?

The driver of that Cadillac I wrote about likely caused his problem by too much speed down a miles-long 5% (or more) grade. It was an area with truck runaway exit ramps, but he wasn't near one.

 

[Creamer]

Traveling 65MPH down the freeway (70 limit area) I noticed I was coming up on a truck with a dovetail car trailer that had a small pile of something in the middle, covered with tarps flapping in the wind. Trying to figure out what it was, I almost didn't realize how fast I was coming up on it. I slow down to about 55 and I'm still coming up on it when I realize it is a load of sand. Every time he hits a bump, more is moving to the rear and sliding off the tail. As room appears to my left I move over and dig my phone out of my pocket and get it unlocked to take a pic, because what I'm seeing I can't believe. The pile is centered between the trailer axles and the rear of the trailer, and is sliding off the tail. I blow by him doing less than 50MPH snapping a picture out of disbelief. Every time he hits a bump, you can see little bits of daylight appear under his rear tires.

Please excuse the late timing on snapping the pic, driving safety comes first.

Safety??? You are taking a picture while driving 65 mph. I might also point out the projectiles on your dash if you did get in an accident.

 

[fordmantpw]

So then pure driver error?

Well, considering that we only see the end result, we have no way of knowing. Could have been a blown tire, failed part, cut off by another driver, hit by someone else, etc.

 

[4570Man]

It was a f-150 tow vehicle. All tires were intact on the truck, and it was a single vehicle crash. I don't know the cause of the crash.

 

[Sysop]

Safety??? You are taking a picture while driving 65 mph. I might also point out the projectiles on your dash if you did get in an accident.

You didn't read. I was doing 65 and slowing down as I came up on him. I passed him, taking the picture, doing about 50. My attention was on the driving part of things, hence the poorly framed photo (I was watching where I was going). My phone has a dedicated camera button on the side, I can pull my phone out, unlock it, and take a picture, all without ever looking away from the road.

If I get in a wreck, it will be the 1000# of tools behind the seat that worry me most. It is a work truck and full of all sorts of stuff. Not to say it can't happen, but I generally do okay at keeping all four corners away from everyone else and the rubber side down. Been close to a half million miles since my last "incident" and I generally drive kinda slow (65, slowed down to 50, in a 70 zone in the above scenario). I don't think anyone's life was in danger...

 

[Sysop]

It was a f-150 tow vehicle. All tires were intact on the truck, and it was a single vehicle crash. I don't know the cause of the crash.

Driver got in a fight with sway control and they both lost? :laughing:

 

[aczlan]

Driver got in a fight with sway control and they both lost? :laughing:

With apologies to The Clash: "I fought the sway control and we both lost"

Aaron Z

 

[debo1683]

If I get in a wreck, it will be the 1000# of tools behind the seat that worry me most. It is a work truck and full of all sorts of stuff.

I was in California last spring and we passed an accident on the highway where a work truck FULL of tools had rolled over. We passed the accident before the police got there, but there were tools all over the highway. The guy was out of the truck and was walking back and forth across the highway cleaning them up ... I think he may have been a little dazed.

I am not saying you are doing anything dangerous, you mentioning carrying tools reminded me of that accident ...

 

[3930dave]

I was in California last spring and we passed an accident on the highway where a work truck FULL of tools had rolled over. We passed the accident before the police got there, but there were tools all over the highway. The guy was out of the truck and was walking back and forth across the highway cleaning them up ... I think he may have been a little dazed.

I am not saying you are doing anything dangerous, you mentioning carrying tools reminded me of that accident ...

All my contractor buddies run cages/bulkheads in their vans. Helps, up to a point.

When one of my neigbour's workers wrote-off his one ton, the bulkhead only slowed down a heavy pipe threading machine - it stopped up around the dash, fortunately w/o hitting the driver. That was a high speed crash into something that didn't move much (large roll-off dump box, loaded) - any worse than that and you end up in body-bag.

Rgds, D.

 

[Creamer]

One of the bigger injuries in SUV and Minivan rollovers and other accidents has been the lack of containment of groceries - especially thinks like canned vegetables and bottled liquids. They have momentum and need to be constrained but most people never think of that. I definitely understand the pipe threader visiting the dash - I have a friend that had a small plastic injection mold - about 300 lbs - in the back of a regular cab pickup not restrained when he stomped on the brakes and the mold took out the center of the dash right beside him.

When I was 5-6 my older brother and I were checking cattle in a pasture with a pickup in tall grass and he found a rock that stopped us quick. I am sure he wasn't going 5 mph but I ended up with the eartagging tool that was lying on the dash stuck in my forehead. Not a big deal but we weren't moving at 50 either.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

So then pure driver error?

The driver of that Cadillac I wrote about likely caused his problem by too much speed down a miles-long 5% (or more) grade. It was an area with truck runaway exit ramps, but he wasn't near one.

I bet it was wind. I see at least one camper or semi-trailer blown over by wind every summer. You wouldn't think it would happen until you see it happen right in front of you.

 

[Sysop]

Big problem with campers is they are made to be lightweight, and lots of the internal storage is up high. Once people get them loaded up and start traveling they're quite top-heavy.

 

[California]

The driver of that Cadillac I wrote about likely caused his problem by too much speed down a miles-long 5% (or more) grade. It was an area with truck runaway exit ramps, but he wasn't near one.

I bet it was wind. I see at least one camper or semi-trailer blown over by wind every summer. You wouldn't think it would happen until you see it happen right in front of you.

I might be wrong, but seeing that combination upside down with the trailer still in line with the Cadillac, I suspect he had tried to eliminate sway and had adjusted his hitch with the sway adjuster too stiff and with too little weight on the rear tires. I think he was going so fast that he swerved when he reached a gentle curve. He was lucky there was no impact, just a lot of grinding on the roof of the trailer and against the center divider as he slid to a standstill. He was still aimed neatly downhill when I came upon him.

Here's the location - (static photo. That live webcam is at Magnifeye.com - Traffic Webcams for the Truckee/Tahoe area). Cars run 75+ down that grade because they expect there is nothing but open road and gentle curves ahead, trucks 20 mph because its so steep.

 

[California]

And wow - I just remembered looking at that Whitmore Grade photo - it is where 50 years ago I had the hood of a '53 Ford fly up in my face blocking all vision. At night. I wanted to see how fast that $75 junker would go and must have been over 90 when the hood folded back. I could still maintain a course parallel to the center divider and it was after midnight with no traffic so I was ok until I could get the window rolled down and see ahead. Its a wonder any of us survive our youth!

Up that grade in the eastbound direction is where CHP used to test the acceleration of proposed new patrol car models. The elevation is 5000 ft.