deepNdirt
Veteran Member
While reading a couple of other threads about maneuvering a trailer as well as a member buying his first trailer, asking a question about what he might need or do when using it, Remind me of back when I first started out towing a trailer 35 years ago,
of course back then traffic wasn't as congested as it is these days, but even so sometimes it was a bit difficult to maneuver around,
Back then there were no such thing as a mobile GPS to navigate us around, many time when trying to find a location I would either travel slow or wind up passing the driveway or entrance, So I would need to go on up the road looking for a place to turn around, Ya'll been there done that I'm sure
.......
This is when it can become interesting,
When trying to turn around sometimes we simply do not have enough room to do a complete turn around, so we need to stop backup a little and give another go at it, Right! When suddenly another driver insist on pulling right up behind me preventing me from backing up,
It is very obvious that I'm trying to get turned around but they blow their horn and insist on coming around me, all I needed was an extra 10 seconds and 10 ft. and I'd be on my way, After getting into a couple of these situations I decided to get a "Backup Alarm / Beeper", while knowing this would not resolve the problem entirely I thought it might at least help to let other drivers know what my intentions were,
When trying to wire up the Alarm I found No backup wire within the trailers tail-light assembly, So I had to run a separate wire all the way back from the truck tail-lights to the rear of the trailer,
I could have easily wired it to the truck but the sound would be muffled by the trailer, I'd rather have it at the person who was pulled up on the rear of my trailer,
The next time I found myself in this situation it actually worked, the person behind me backed off enough so that i could maneuver,
I no longer had problems with people getting up close to my trailer, when they would hear the backup alarm they back up or go around, The more I towed the better I became knowing how much room I needed to look for in order to turn it around,
Moving forward in time to present days, traffic has became even worst, people have develop a syndrome called ( Road rage ) For someone who is new to towing will find them self in the same situation as I was in, But these days you might need a baseball-bat ( just kidding ) a wall of flashing lights and a train horn for a backup alarm mounted to the rear of your trailer,...( again just kidding )
Seriously though, how many of us have backup alarms on our Rigs? and or does anyone have anything can share on how to go about turning around in a moderate trafficked area without panicking? Is there a "law of the land" That protects those of us who tow trailers daily against the rude car driving road-hogs that block us in?.....
When I see an 18 wheeler needing to make a wide turn or needs to get through a intersection, I Always give him enough room to maneuver, why can't others do so, while we maynot entend to happen we trailer towers can quickly cause traffic jams without the help of other drivers giving us the right-of-way,
of course back then traffic wasn't as congested as it is these days, but even so sometimes it was a bit difficult to maneuver around,
Back then there were no such thing as a mobile GPS to navigate us around, many time when trying to find a location I would either travel slow or wind up passing the driveway or entrance, So I would need to go on up the road looking for a place to turn around, Ya'll been there done that I'm sure
....... This is when it can become interesting,
When trying to turn around sometimes we simply do not have enough room to do a complete turn around, so we need to stop backup a little and give another go at it, Right! When suddenly another driver insist on pulling right up behind me preventing me from backing up,
It is very obvious that I'm trying to get turned around but they blow their horn and insist on coming around me, all I needed was an extra 10 seconds and 10 ft. and I'd be on my way, After getting into a couple of these situations I decided to get a "Backup Alarm / Beeper", while knowing this would not resolve the problem entirely I thought it might at least help to let other drivers know what my intentions were,
When trying to wire up the Alarm I found No backup wire within the trailers tail-light assembly, So I had to run a separate wire all the way back from the truck tail-lights to the rear of the trailer,
I could have easily wired it to the truck but the sound would be muffled by the trailer, I'd rather have it at the person who was pulled up on the rear of my trailer
, The next time I found myself in this situation it actually worked, the person behind me backed off enough so that i could maneuver,
I no longer had problems with people getting up close to my trailer, when they would hear the backup alarm they back up or go around, The more I towed the better I became knowing how much room I needed to look for in order to turn it around,
Moving forward in time to present days, traffic has became even worst, people have develop a syndrome called ( Road rage ) For someone who is new to towing will find them self in the same situation as I was in, But these days you might need a baseball-bat ( just kidding ) a wall of flashing lights and a train horn for a backup alarm mounted to the rear of your trailer,...( again just kidding )
Seriously though, how many of us have backup alarms on our Rigs? and or does anyone have anything can share on how to go about turning around in a moderate trafficked area without panicking? Is there a "law of the land" That protects those of us who tow trailers daily against the rude car driving road-hogs that block us in?.....
When I see an 18 wheeler needing to make a wide turn or needs to get through a intersection, I Always give him enough room to maneuver, why can't others do so,
while we maynot entend to happen we trailer towers can quickly cause traffic jams without the help of other drivers giving us the right-of-way,
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