04ctd

an idiot's car trailer broke off his truck, and went up the other side of the road (oncoming traffic) for a little ways (~200ft - 4 wheel trailer) and then hit a ditch, flipped, and crashed down on a cross road. going ~45.

an isuzu std cab small p'k'up pulling a double axle car trailer.

wife, me, and kid were right behind it.

gave my kid a first hand reason to NOT DRIVE LIKE AN IDIOT and LEAVE ROOM for other people to make mistakes, and leave room for yourself to correct for thier mistake.

there was a mustang, that saw the trailer coming, and he just got off on the shoulder, and a F-150 that had to turn down the cross road before the trailer got there.

if folks coming our way had been tailgating (like they always do here in SC) they would have been front T-boned by the hitch on the front of that ~700lb car trailer.

it was great, but scary, too watch.

of course, the idiot went for a mile before he realized it had came off!

his ball was missing when we caught up to him.

we were at the light behind him, and you could see the cords in one tire. the tires were cambered in, looked like house trailer axles. definitely home made and had various peices that i did not recognize as runners for tread area.

all rusty and crusty trailer, prolly 20 yrs old, guessing by rust.

Checkmate

No safety chains ?
I had my boat trailer come off the ball once because of a worn out latch. Luckily the chains stopped it, but my boat ended up with some new gashes from my rear bumper. I have since changed the safety chains on all my trailers (5 of them) to link ends instead of hooks. That way there is no chance of them coming free.
Breakaway kits are a wonderful thing too.

Fronty Owner

I have seen alot of dangerous trailers and loads being moved around this area.

Buzz

I saw a similar accident last year. A car trailer came off a pickup and hit a biker head-on in the oncoming lane...killed 'em.

Hemi Cat

I'm sure glad nobody got hurt. That is the reason we, as honest law abiding citizens, have to put up with all those "laws" governing pulling trailers. Laws to protect ourselves. Some of the laws are good, but some of them are rediculous. If the law makers have to create more laws, why can't they make one that makes people responsible for their own stupidity???If one person screws up, nail him, don't create a law for everybody to follow because one guy screwed up.

Ripper406

I see alot of crazy people towing big stuff with small trucks, not even 1/2 tons where our ranch is. One guy was driving a toyota 4 runner, old body style pulling a two axle boat which was pretty big, had the rear bumper kissing the floor. Another idiot was driving an Izuzu SUV, dont know the name though, pulling a 2 axle RV camper and also had the bumper kissin the floor. I dont understand why these people do this, I think they should have something about trailer towing mandatory in drivers ED and the written test.

tmoore

About 3 years back, I was with a friend and his dad, and we see this old ford van pulling a house trailer. No lie, it was a late 70's 3/4 ton ford van with and old house trailer, not a huge like 16x80, but like an old 12X60 or so. It was one of those things that you see and make you say WOW.

Dodgezilla

When I was a youngbuck I forgot to tighten the tongue on my flatbed and it popped off the truck but at least I had the safety chains hooked up.
A friend of mine flipped a 24' U-Haul trying to avoid a utility trailer that had come loose on the highway and crossed into his lanes coming at him head on!!

I just "Took possesion" of a 12' utility trailer that had been overloaded with construction debris. It had bent the axle and one side was eating up the tires. The guy apparently ate up one tire till it was bald then switched the tires side to side and ran it until one of them blew. He abandoned it about 1 mile from my house and it sat there with no tag, all lights broken, and two wasted tires for two weeks. I decided he wasn't coming back so I grabbed the trailer and am in the process of repairing it. The trailer is only a couple years old and is otherwise in super condition. There is no ID tag on it anywhere but I'll have a tag and lights on it soon.....

BIG MIKE

One of my pet peeves is, people pulling trailers with either broken lights, or did not bother to plug the cord in. This is a very dangerous situation, especially at night!


See it all the time around central Florida! BIG MIKE

Maccandy

The wife and I were driving on a country road and a double axle utility trailer broke away from a car headed for us. There was no place to go. On my right side was a 3' shoulder and then a big drop-off. It seemed like slow motion, I could see the trailer was loose and moving in and out of my lane. I did not know what to do. speed up and get by be for it came in my lane or slam on the brakes and hope it goes off the shoulder before it gets me. All this in about 1 second. It seemed like hours. I put my foot to the floor and got by them and then it came into my lane and over the bank. I don't think my heart came out of my throat for 2 hr. I still feel the lump every time I think about it. The good Lord was with us that time.

Patrick Campbell

The day I got my gooseneck trailer, I drove about 150 miles with the gooseneck NOT locked on the ball.

I had safety chains but jesus, if I had hit a big enough bump, the trailer could've bumped off the ball and smashed into my cab.

I ended up finding out when I went to load a car on it and it see-sawed off... Luckily I only smashed into my tailgate.

This was day 1, now I am a lot better. Inspect everything, twice.

Ripper406

Thats scary, almost like playing dodge ball with a two axle trailer.

doodah

I saw just last week, a guy with a little mid 80s toyota 2 wheel drive pickup, with one of those big tandom axle rear slinger manure spreader, the truck bed was loaded up with prepared scrap steel, and the manure spreader had 3 big 1/2 -crushed cars straped on top of oneanother, the dang spreader had to weigh enough for that little truck let alone those cars and the scrap iron, Imagine this, he was sittin one the shoulder with a flat tire on the truck, I stoped to see if he needed help, and he just waved me on by! {MUST HAVE PUT THE SPARE UNDERNIETH ALL THAT PREPARED SCRAP STEEL!!}

Patrick Campbell

I think LED lights should be a new standard... They are ... BRIGHT.

gwhammy

A duffus I used to work with took a gooseneck trailer with two 7000 lb. axles and put 24000 lb. of block on it. When the office told me to help him I got there and he had bent both axles, blew all the tires and bent the rims around the hubs till we had to cut them off with a torch. When the tires started blowing he actually downshifted to keep moving he just thought the load was pulling hard. His excuse was he didn't want to make two trips.