Do I Need Trailer Brake?

[4570Man]

Of course the bad vehicle drivers outnumber the bad bicycle drivers. There’s a thousand or more vehicles to one bicycle. Percentage wise the annoying bicycles are WAY higher.

 

[Redlands Okie]

How come a big farm tractor has to have a triangular cautionary sign on it ? Most have lights. Many of the newer ones even have turn signals. Quads have to have insurance and lights around here usually and are not allowed legally on the road. Motorcycles have to have insurance and lights. Workers have to wear suitable hi vis vests or coats.
Bike riders in my area seldom have the lights their required to and their wearing some darkish green or black or similar color while riding on the roads. No reflective vest or anything else. Toward evening its just plain dangerous. The freaking deer and car chasing dogs seem to be smarter than many of the bikers around here.
In town we have occasional bike involved incidents and its all on the auto insurance or auto driver to repair their vehicle regardless of fault. Out of town due to higher speeds the biker is usually dead. Plenty of little “monuments” in the area to show for it. If you can not see the biker it is not going to end well. Its a sad deal for everyone involved regardless of who is at fault.
I agree if the bikes are on the road they should be following the same rules and not rolling thru stops, have insurance and should be easily seen. The equipment is available and some of the lights can easily be seen a quarter mile away in DAYLIGHT. Reflective vests work great, to bad most do not wear them.
Someone needs to be hauling many of the bikers around here on a trailor for everyone’s safety.

 

[goeduck]

As a bicyclist, I hate to see all this antagonism. Sure there are bad cyclists, but the number of bad drivers far outnumber them. .

You gotta be freaking kidding me. Bicyclists are terrorists on two wheels. Adults* almost never obey traffic laws, they do not have to license their bikes yet they use the roads, do not pay gas taxes for road construction.... I could go on and on. Motorcyclists are MUCH better as far as obeying traffic laws. Why do bicyclists not obey traffic laws?

*Around here the only law obeying bicyclists that I have seen are kids.

 

[4570Man]

I don’t go joy riding on my tractor. On the very rare instance I do drive it I pull over whenever possible. I don’t drive my mule on the road. When I drive my truck on the road I find a gear higher than second. Bicyclists should be limited to the sidewalks. I know guy that does drive his atv on the road pretty frequently but he pays tags, insurance, and it’s capable of maintaining the speed limit.

 

[aczlan]

So does this mean a 20T or larger pintle hitch or bumper pull trailer hauling a dozer on it doesn't need brakes?
The trailer brake requirement law in MO doesn't make sense to me.

I agree. I think they are about the only state that doesn't require brakes at all (other than for HAZMAT or 5th wheel trailers)

If the trailer becomes detached while towing, it is no longer considered part of the combination, therefore gets treated the same as if it was parked. the question that I asked my insurance was if the trailer becomes detached from my truck while towing down the highway, is the trailer still covered under the vehicle insurance policy, and was told no. this same question has been discussed with other people that I know, and was told the same answer by their insurance also. I know it is a grey area, but comes down to if it becomes unconnected is no longer considered being towed.

Is that for liability (damage to others), or collision (damage to the trailer)? On the liability side, that it one reason why I carry a large umbrella policy.

Aaron Z

 

[fried1765]

I agree. I think they are about the only state that doesn't require brakes at all (other than for HAZMAT or 5th wheel trailers)

Is that for liability (damage to others), or collision (damage to the trailer)? On the liability side, that it one reason why I carry a large umbrella policy.

Aaron Z

In spite of what RANDYT claims,..... LIABILITY coverage DOES extend to the trailer from the towing vehicle, if the trailer should become detached, while being towed.
Umbrella coverage is a very good idea, but, you must also have underlying minimum liability coverage (specific to the terms of your particular umbrella), before the umbrella coverage will actually kick in.

 

[RandyT]

In spite of what RANDYT claims,..... LIABILITY coverage DOES extend to the trailer from the towing vehicle, if the trailer should become detached, while being towed.
Umbrella coverage is a very good idea, but, you must also have underlying minimum liability coverage (specific to the terms of your particular umbrella), before the umbrella coverage will actually kick in.

Right or wrong, do you really want to find out the hard way.

 

[RickB]

Right or wrong, do you really want to find out the hard way.

It is not necessary to find out the hard way or assume a particular opinion is factual.
Hardly a complex question. Anyone wanting an answer could contact their agent or carrier´s personnel. Different carriers may give different answers.

 

[Jstpssng]

As a bicyclist, I hate to see all this antagonism. Sure there are bad cyclists, but the number of bad drivers far outnumber them. The public roads are for any legal wheeled traffic. If you can't stop when you unexpectedly come up on a bicycle, what are you going to do when you come up behind a farm tractor?

I try to avoid impeding traffic and stay to the right but in my years, I have had people run me off the road, try to grab my arm, run a stop sign and hit me, and even had a guy stop in the middle of the road to yell at me because he "had to pass me in a no passing zone because I wasn't on the shoulder". (The shoulder was about a foot wide and covered with large gravel.)

Remember when we were kids and rode our bikes everywhere? Now a lot kids aren't allowed off their block. Mostly because of bad drivers.

No, mostly because parents won't teach their kids to ride safely, then ensure that they do. On of the scariest things on the road is a bicyclist; especially but not limited to a kid. You never know what they will do; are they riding with the traffic (probably not); will they will they pull a U-turn just as you pass them, do they even have a clue that somebody is behind them? I can think of three kids on two separate occasions right now who would be dead because of stupid crap, if I wasn't so paranoid of bicyclists.

 

[MossRoad]

I came about a foot from hitting a cyclists a couple years ago. It was snowing. I was downtown. The cyclist was coming towards me, and apparently wanted to make a left turn across my path. So, he moves into his left turn lane, decides he's going to try and beat me (we both had green lights), and when he turned left too sharp, his front wheel slipped out from under him and he fell down in my lane. I was able to stop, but could not see him, as he was below my vision somewhere in front of my bumber. He got up white as a ghost, and walked his bike away.

As kids, we were taught that we had to ride on the right side of the road, like a car, but had to walk our bikes like people, when crossing a street. I don't know when bikes got car rules, but that's what they have now. For the most part, most cyclists obey the laws and its the impatient cars that are legally at fault. But for the life of me, I can't understand why cyclists want to ride on busy car roads. Sure, they have a right to do it, but man, they are putting their lives at risk by riding with impatient and inattentive drivers. Scares the bajeebers out of me.

One more pet peeve and I'm done. Our fine city spent a million dollars per mile to install a nice, wide bike/pedestrian path along the river. It ties in with several other paths, and, when complete, will link three towns and 35 miles of trails along the river. Yet, pretty much any sunny day, there are cyclists riding on the road right next to the trail. The cyclists apparently don't want to ride with pedestrians just as much as car drivers don't want to drive with cyclists.

And don't get me started on Lime Bikes.... they are coming to a town near you. Piece of crap junk bikes that litter the town.