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Watched an accident happen before my very eyes!

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RayP(MI)

12-25-2004 17:47:46

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Yesterday afternoon was out in the pasture dolling out a hay bale to my sheep, and happend to look up at the road that goes past the farm. Saw the local septic tank service go by. He had his tanker - a big double axle job, pulling a 3 axle trailer with a good sized JD tractor/front loader/backhoe aboard. As he went by, the distance between the truck and the tractor started to open up, and I realized that the truck was no longer pulling the trailer. He was probably doin' 50mph. Trailer skidded almost a quarter mile down the road before veering into the ditch, hitting a mailbox, (never found mailbox - disappeared!) glancing off an embankment, back into the ditch, and then veering back into a second embankment before coming to a stop at an angle against that embankment. Rushed over to provide aid, and found that tractor was still upright, chained to flatbed, and undamaged. Trailer suffered a broken axle on front wheel. In checking the hitch, I found that he had failed to latch the pintle hook, and insert the locking pin. Hitch was all iced up, and it was obvious that he'd failed to latch it - said he'd towed it 30 miles that way. There's a bump where the pavement company had joined two sections of pavement right about where she came unhitched. Had also failed to attach the safety chains, and I'm not sure they were heavy enough anyway. Got tractor off trailer, used the rear bucket and chain to pull trailer out of ditch, and dragged it home with the truck, empty - son drove tractor home under own power. ONE LUCKY GUY - could have been much more serious and tragic - had it come unglued on the main highway, hit an uncoming car, etc. SEVERAL LESSONS HERE - Check your trailer and load before starting off - Betcha he will from now on!

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rustyj14

12-30-2004 11:14:04

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

We were headed west on the Pa. turnpike, in a driving rain, with our motor home around 7 p.m. Not dark yet, but very misty on the road! We were following a tractor trailer, which was going about 50, because of the hard rain. Suddenly, without any turn signals, the truck ahead of me swerved into the passing lane, so i did too! I had been keeping track of who was in the left lane and where, so a quick glance showed nobody there! As i turned my attention back to the truck in front, i saw the reason for his quick lane change!! There in the right lane sat one of those state trailers that has a lighted arrow on it, they use them at construction sites! Just sitting there, no lights, nothing, in the rain! And, further down the road sat the state truck, and a guy was running back like a mad-man, trying to get back to the trailer before it got hit! I never heard if anybody hit the thing! by: Rustyj

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Nolan

12-27-2004 15:44:01

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

To date, every time I"ve had a trailer or impliment disconnect it"s been because I didn"t hitch it up properly.

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Billy NY

12-27-2004 05:38:39

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

Best thing you can do is check all your connections before you take off, I find that a lot of people " don't have time" which is inexcusable, if you dot your I's and cross your T's by checking things out properly, at least you know you've done your best to prevent accidents like the above.

Used to drive a truss trailer for a lumber yard 15 years ago, and one of the hardcore drunks, came into work after a good night of sloshing it up, mind you he looked almost sober, reeked of alcohol though I'm sure ( I never got close enough to get a whiff ! ) well he made a truss delivery, but on the way back, he rounded a corner and the telescopic type " Dump-D-Matic" type truss trailer ( made in Texas I believe ) un-telescoped I guess you could say, as the pins were set in the tubes to hold the trailer together came out of their holes, why? No retainer pins, he forgot to put them in, well the back set of tandem wheels seperated from the trailer and wiped out 6 cars, one was brand new & he got a DWI, was saturated from the night before. We had several drunks in the yard, been there for years, best move I ever made was to get out of that place !

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12-26-2004 17:12:41

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

How about a travel trailer in the high speed lane of the Massachusetts Turnpike 10:30 pm Sunday night and have the hitch break ?

Trailer laid on the side jackknifed in to the 225 Buick Electra and the whole mess stopped in the high speed lane ..... Car following saw the lights go and started to break and flash , that was the only reason no other cars hit the mess ..... ended up totaling trailer , and getting more than what was paid for it ,,, car repaired and new draws ...Dad had all the fun .. Bill G.

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DaveJWI

12-26-2004 08:47:46

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

I'll add my two cents.

1.) Helping friends haul used demo car to salvage yard using a towbar, the hitch broke off the towbar and the demo car left the road and proceeded into the ditch where it broke off the stoplight pole. I was following behind on my motocycle and had the stoplight crash to the ground about one foot to my right. I did not know that they did not run a safety chain on the towbar this time, but would have failed anyway, as where they would have looped the chain through tore open when the hitch broke. This was an old towbar that had been used many, many times. This one cost us about $500 for a new stoplight and my buddy a fine for reckless driving. We payed the fines and figured we got off lucky. That light could have fallen a foot farther over on me or the car could hit other traffic.

2.)I have gone through a streak of forgetting to raise the jacks all the way on equipment. So I borrowed my cousin's cattle trailer and got distracted while hitching up when I realized I still had the jack down and stopped to put it up so I wouldn't forget. Well I got everything hooked up and dropped the trailer pulling out of his driveway. When I got distracted I missed latching the hitch. Fortunately I was just entering the road and thus the trailer stopped right away due to lack of momentum. In this case the hooks on this safety chain did fail also.

I don't mean to trivialize the seriousness of any of these instances, but just point out that mistakes and failures will happen occasionly even if you try to avoid them. GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Fred Kobs

12-26-2004 04:44:35

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

I was on I-80 over by Neola Ia. about mid-September and don't know what went wrong but watched an empty, almost new, car trailer dance left/right a couple times and came off the pickup pulling it. From the right lane accross the median strip, accross both of my lanes, into a flat ditch, up a STEEP bank, plowing to a stop took only a few seconds. Always spent the extra time on my own stuff to make sure everything is as safe as possible for everyone around me and wish all would do the same. All were lucky that day as interstate wasn't busy and I was the only car for a mile or so around but could have been a very bad deal. Was a good "watch the other guy" lesson for my 14yr. old daughter tho 'cause she was pretty shook up. Hate to think what if I had been distracted at that moment and not had the opportunity to slow down. Fred

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buickanddeere

12-25-2004 22:10:04

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

In a hurry, don't have time, it will be ok, not going too far, always did it that way, good enough,you worry too much etc. Any of those sound familiar before or after a wreck and/or personal injury/death?

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Leland

12-25-2004 20:17:28

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

We had a local sports writer at local paper write a story about his fishing trip with his brother ,they left Spfld IL one morning headed west to Missouri to fish still dark after about 120 miles they stopped to take a whiz and gas up then they noticed no boat so in a panic they turned around and flew back east and drove 85 miles back to find a trooper there with lights going and boat in median, to make it short they forgot to put pin in hitch tube after hooking up boat how it made it that far baffles me.

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Davis In SC

12-25-2004 21:02:04

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to Leland, 12-25-2004 20:17:28

If I was a sportswriter, I would never have told that one..... . LOL

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Kev

12-25-2004 20:11:57

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

Not only do people not hitch things up properly, there are a lot of defective / unsafe trailers on the road.
1.) A month ago here I was sitting in the house and suddenly heard what sounded like someone dragging a large metal object down the road past the house. I went out to look and someone one was a 100 miles away from home with an enclosed rental trailer. The toung had broke right at the front of the enclosed section and the nose dropped to the pavement. Toung buckeled but was still attached to trailer and pickup truck. The guy was going 30 MPH through town. Wonder what would have happened if he would still have been on the highway into or out of town?

2.) I know of someone who built their own car hauling trailer. Problem is he's not a welded and used one of those small 110 volt wire feed welders to build it. All the welds are junk and he's still hauling cars on it. Another accident waiting to happen.

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Davis In SC

12-25-2004 20:57:16

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to Kev, 12-25-2004 20:11:57

On home-built trailers.. To the letter of the law I am breaking the law... I pull a skid steer or tractor on a 2 year old gooseneck with a GVW of 12K (CDL Limit can be interpreted as 10K) Behind a fairly new Dually. Lights, Brakes & safety chains are all functional... Or I could take the "Legal" route, & get a half-ton truck, & mig-weld a trailer out of some old catwalk & angle iron.... I think the laws are mixed up..... Regards, Davis

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john in la

12-25-2004 23:02:49

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to Davis In SC, 12-25-2004 20:57:16

How do you conclude you are in violation of CDL laws??

If it is because you have a 12K trailer that has nothing to do with it. CDL's go on gross weight rating of the truck. If your truck is rated for over 26,000 lbs you need a CDL no matter if you have a trailer or not.

The only place a CDL says anything about a trailer is to the class of CDL you need.

I know this is being nit picky but it is your dually that makes you need a CDL not your trailer. Now your trailer does make it where you need a class A instead of a class B.

Where the law really gets iffy is if you were to say you are not commercial so you do not need a CDL.

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LeRoy Baumgardner

12-26-2004 02:51:53

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to john in la, 12-25-2004 23:02:49

Dear Sir
You are only partly right about the CDL and Trailer situation. When you go over 10,000 lbs on the GVW of the trailer You have to be careful, As some states require you to run what is known as combination tags on the truck. Which will create the need for you to have a CDL. I can legally run and so can anyone else my rollback which is registered 26,000 lbs GVW pulling my trailer registered 10,000 lbs GVW. for a total combined weight of 36,000 lbs. and I'm 100% legal Without CDL. But as soon as I hook to a trailer that is 10,001 lbs. or more a CDL is required. Another thing that is rarely discussed it don't matter if you are driving a truck pulling a trailer or just a truck if you're registered for more than 26,000 lbs. you either have to run apportioned tags or buy a tempory trip permit to drive through the stste. I'm from Pa. and Ohio honors Pa. registration but don't get caught driving in Maryland with Pa. registration of more than 26,000 without a trip permit, because you're going to get one Hell of a fine. Maryland is really a bunch of a--holes.

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Loren

12-25-2004 19:24:34

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

I've seen trailer "releases" twice this year. Don't know how people can be so neglectful. Was over at a buddies shop several years back and another of his friends pulled up got out and Andy asks "where's the trailer?". The guys turns around and looks at the hitch he had just hooked a trailer to. Never knew it came off. Luckily a fence and some wheat was all that got that one's idiocy. Loren

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Farmall Don

12-25-2004 19:06:33

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

The main thing is nobody got hurt, but that was one stupid stunt. A few years back near here someone got killed by a trailer that got loose. An innocent person riding a bicycle along the road. That driver was charged for not using the safety chains on the hitch, even though the hitch itself failed.

Good Reminder though!

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Davis In SC

12-25-2004 18:29:11

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

Hope he got out of there before police got there !!! Years ago, I witnessed a similar accident. An idiot in a Ryder moving truck had a trailer with his car in tow. He was driving way too fast, & hit a speed bump. When he hit it, trailer came loose, rolled downhill several hundred feet, & broadsided a strech limosine !!! I was the first one there, & saw that (1) hitch had not been latched, (2) safety chains had not been attached, (3)Break-away cable for brakes had not been attached.... I gave my Eye-witness statement to police, but I think they let him by pretty easy, since it all happened on private property.

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Joe Bloggs

12-25-2004 18:08:23

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to RayP(MI), 12-25-2004 17:47:46

seen it all before. stupid people will always do stupid things.some times it takes a while for them to learn or kill some one.

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mark

12-26-2004 11:00:47

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Re: Watched an accident happen before my very eyes in reply to Joe Bloggs, 12-25-2004 18:08:23

Well, I have seen trailer accidents on the Interstate and often thought it would have been better for the trailer to have broken free. When something occurs causing the primary hitch to fail.....for whatever reason, mechanical, human, road conditions.....the trailer then becomes a giant tail wagging the dog attached by chains. Generally the tow vehicle gets yanked all over..in and out of the lanes being shared by other vehicles...which generally results in a jackknife of tow vehicle and trailer and flying debris going everywhere. The poor folks (call them idiots or whatever you choose) in the tow vehicle are at the mercy of those damnable 'safety' chains and I cannot see as how the public is any safer. Let the trailer go, it'll stop probably as soon as if it would while destroying and maybe killing the passengers in the tow vehicle....and may not kill ANYBODY while in free flight. Just my opinion.

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