Two nasty trailer crashes, be carefull!

[Paddy]

On my drive back north from SC up I- 75 at about an hour before Lexiton, KY, I saw a very ugly truck/RV roll over. Since the rescue folks were still arriving and the speed had only slowed, I'll guess I encountered it just moments after it occured. My wife, myself and kids shivered at the condition of the driver. He was getting med attension from inside the colasped cab. Today, reading the stack of papers I missed while gone, local follow died via fire in same senario, Truch/RV roller.

Anyone living in the I-75 area know how the first one turned out? I always fear the RVs as they come flying through the Smokey Mts hills on I-40.

Be carefull and use a truck made to do the job.

Patrick

 

[RobertN]

Our local independant tractor dealer/service got clobbered a couple weeks ago. He had a Ford tractor(about the size of a Kubota "L" series) and a disk on his trailer. He was making a delivery on the serviced tractor, out in a rural area with twisty roads. A guy lost it going around a curve, crossed lanes. He sideswiped the back of the truck before hitting the trailer. Hit so hard it broke the tires/spindles/brakes clean off the trailer on one side. It bent a 4" square section of the frame on the disk. After he was cut/extricated from the car, the guy had to be flown out in a helicopter.

The F450 had body damage, the 10klb trailer was a total, the tractor was ok, but the disc got bent up.

Fortunately my tractor guy chains and binds at each corner and over all implements. One binder popped, but nothing on the trailer moved. This even after the car basically stopped on top of the trailer.

After talk here, and checking state regs, I was a believer in plenty of chain and binders. After seeing what happened to that trailer, I will definitely continue to use chians and binders on all corners.

This made me rethink straps again too. When that car wound up on top of the trailer, I can imagine it cutting through straps. Speculation, yes. I'm guessing chains would win in that case though.