Truck towing overloaded kills, driver gets felony charges.

[Fallon]

^^^^^
And there was probably some guy in a sports car right on your taillights, all of the way down.

Half the cars in either direction were BMW, Mercedes or Corvettes. Definitely out for a pleasure cruise. Thankfully none rode my ass. I pulled over frequently for anybody behind. Can't say I blame them it's a nice road to drive if you aren't hauling 12k lbs of junk 39' behind you.

 

[msch2112]

I live 30 minutes from where the accident occurred. That hill is way too steep for that Ford and boat and so called driver. We need a public hanging. Mike

 

[deezler]

actually not straight, a number of curves, some slightly off camber. I drive it too fast. The other side towards Tahoe is much straighter down.

Ha, yeah I meant straight down as in no ups and downs, the grade is one smooth direction down into the valley. That's kinda wild that we have an actual live witness to this towing operation here in the discussion.

So he wasn't speeding, about two miles up from the crash site, but you smelled strong brake odor.... he was probably riding them in order to hold speed, and then coming to a full stop at the bottom was just not going to happen.

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

Far too many people think that if they can tow it on flat ground or up an incline that's all they need to worry about. I grew up having the fact beat into me that if you double the horsepower you need to quadruple the braking capability and that the last thing you want is an unmanaged load pushing you down a hill.

 

[ovrszd]

I have no doubt my Diesel SD will pull an 80K load. But it ain't gonna stop it or control it when things go bad.

Getting more common to hear discussions about pulling heavily loaded trailers with 1/2T trucks. Even hear on TBN.

Pulling isn't the issue.

 

[RickB]

I have no doubt my Diesel SD will pull an 80K load. But it ain't gonna stop it or control it when things go bad.

Getting more common to hear discussions about pulling heavily loaded trailers with 1/2T trucks. Even hear on TBN.

Pulling isn't the issue.

Good to see you posting, Richard.

 

[Jstpssng]

Another consideration is the condition of your brakes and overall tow vehicle. If the pads are down to 20% they aren't going to stop as well, even if you aren't technically overloaded. I used to moonlight for my friend's catering business, it was scary some of the things he did. He pulled his new 10000 lb catering trailer behind a pickup put together from junkyard parts... one day when we got to a function I had to pull a rear drum, disengage the springs and duct tape the shoes together to make it 100 miles back to Bangor.
Granted the trailer had brakes but still, everything is supposed to work together.

 

[PuffyC]

And I really have to wonder who was around when this boat got loaded, in Tahoe California, and just ignored the Florida tags, the too small truck, and the sketchy trailer. No one wants to get involved any more.

Just a guess but if you said something to the guy and he ignored you then some lawyer could probably charge you as an accessory because you knew the danger and did nothing to physically stop him. Like a bartender serving a drunk guy who then goes out and kills someone. Getting involved could potentially come with serious legal and financial risk these days.

You also can’t assume the driver had any idea what he was doing was dangerous. If he’s just some random knucklehead with questionable legal status and the boss said ‘take this truck and go get that boat or you’re out of a job’ then he’s probably going to do what he’s told. It would be real easy for him to claim “I’m no towing expert, I just drive the truck man, so if the boss says take this truck and get a boat I have to assume he knows that it’s safe.” I know that doesn’t technically matter but in a jury trial and sentencing that would go a very long way.

 

[ovrszd]

Good to see you posting, Richard.

Thanks Rick.

Hope all is well out in God's Country!!!

 

[RickB]

Thanks Rick.

Hope all is well out in God's Country!!!

All good here, sir. I pulled the pin on work in early September.