Speed is not your friend

Wish I had a dollar for every time I got blown off, like I was parked, and the culprit was a diesel pickup, with a 4" lift kit, and oversized tires, on cheap Chinese rims. Hooked to a bumper pull toy hauler, or huge bunkhouse TT, that is shod with cheap Chinese tires and rims. Typically these rigs have weight distribution without sway control, or a single friction bar, (like that would do any good). Clearly not the best option when traveling at 80-90MPH.

allcool wrote:
This is from the article...

"The driver told officers he and his wife were heading north on the interstate and as they entered the steep down grade near mile marker 19 the trailer they were towing started to fishtail. Once it started they could no longer control the vehicle, the trooper said."

IMO, MAYBE (?) speed alone was not the actual 'cause' of this accident. None of us were there in the truck to see what occurred. All we can go on is what the driver said above. And we all know that a trailer set up correctly doesn't just start to fishtail suddenly. Although from the OP observation of this driver earlier, he very well could have been going 80+. But we don't know how fast he was actually going when it happened. Although towing slower very possibly would have avoided it.

He did say "they entered the steep down grade near mile marker 19".
I'm not familiar with this area, but many times when cresting a grade and coming to a steep downgrade, speed is reduced...?

When a trailer sways/fishtails uncontrolably, when being towed 'normally' at any reasonable speed under the tires max speed limit, its not set up correctly. Not talking about inclement weather with 30mph+ side gusts of wind, towing safely in that is more of a(bad..?)judgement call by the driver.

When a bumper pull trailer is not set up correctly, one of the first and most common symptoms are sway/fishtail. The more improperly the trailer is set up the slower speeds the sway starts to occur. The worse its set up the more violent the sway will be.
Many don't realize this and just think thats how my trailer tows so I better keep it slow so it doesn't start to sway/fishtail. That will work, but... When in reality they should check the tongue weight to trailer gvw ratio and set it up/load it correctly, with sway control and a WD hitch.

As we all know, setting up your trailer/hitch/tongue weight correctly, avoids the white knuckle tow experience many live with when trying to tow at hyw speeds. My guess is his trailer was not set up right and had bad violent sway that he lived with,add speed/bad judgement to that equation and here is the result...

jmo

Totally agree with all this.

I'll bet he had cheap ST tires that overflexed at that speed and started the fishtail (other factors like low tongue weight certainly could have been a factor). Inferior driving probably did the rest (why inferior - because if he was superior, he wouldn't have been going that fast in the first place).

This is from the article...

"The driver told officers he and his wife were heading north on the interstate and as they entered the steep down grade near mile marker 19 the trailer they were towing started to fishtail. Once it started they could no longer control the vehicle, the trooper said."

IMO, MAYBE (?) speed alone was not the actual 'cause' of this accident. None of us were there in the truck to see what occurred. All we can go on is what the driver said above. And we all know that a trailer set up correctly doesn't just start to fishtail suddenly. Although from the OP observation of this driver earlier, he very well could have been going 80+. But we don't know how fast he was actually going when it happened. Although towing slower very possibly would have avoided it.

He did say "they entered the steep down grade near mile marker 19".
I'm not familiar with this area, but many times when cresting a grade and coming to a steep downgrade, speed is reduced...?

When a trailer sways/fishtails uncontrolably, when being towed 'normally' at any reasonable speed under the tires max speed limit, its not set up correctly. Not talking about inclement weather with 30mph+ side gusts of wind, towing safely in that is more of a(bad..?)judgement call by the driver.

When a bumper pull trailer is not set up correctly, one of the first and most common symptoms are sway/fishtail. The more improperly the trailer is set up the slower speeds the sway starts to occur. The worse its set up the more violent the sway will be.
Many don't realize this and just think thats how my trailer tows so I better keep it slow so it doesn't start to sway/fishtail. That will work, but... When in reality they should check the tongue weight to trailer gvw ratio and set it up/load it correctly, with sway control and a WD hitch.

As we all know, setting up your trailer/hitch/tongue weight correctly, avoids the white knuckle tow experience many live with when trying to tow at hyw speeds. My guess is his trailer was not set up right and had bad violent sway that he lived with,add speed/bad judgement to that equation and here is the result...

jmo

HTElectrical wrote:

The Texan wrote:
This guy passed us in a 75 MPH zone and we were doing about 4 over. This was about 5 miles further down the interstate.

The end result

That section is 80 MPH.

Where he passed me, approaching exit 16, is a 75 MPH zone. The 80 zone starts between exits 16 and 19. Where he rolled at is an 80 zone, but who knows how much over he was then, seeing he was close to 10 over in the 75 zone.

Slow down -arrive alive.

I'm from NJ and FL Worst drivers ever.

The Texan wrote:
This guy passed us in a 75 MPH zone and we were doing about 4 over. This was about 5 miles further down the interstate.

The end result

That section is 80 MPH.

I was stuck in that traffic Jam over the weekend while heading to a race in Cedar City.
That is the stretch of I-15 that has an 80 MPH speed limit.

I also tow at 75 or so all the time in AZ... My setup is also equipped for it better than most.
And I can assure you that I am a better driver than most today..... Right off the bat, I don't own a phone that can do texting.:B

^^^^^^^^^^^^No arguments there, fer shure.