Conduct a safety drill, have your passenger yell out SWAY!!
Emergencies are not planned events that you get to leisurely deal with. They happen unexpectedly and they happen fast. After 30 years towing I had my first and hopefully last one happen last Monday coming home from a camping trip.
I've driven this same route regularly for 39 years without incident. But it had been raining and in Southern California rain means slippery roads. I thought I was being careful by taking a corner at 40 mph that I normally take at 50. All of a sudden the trailer breaks loose and starts to slide wide toward the shoulder. I was able to do two things in the time allotted before I got it back under control. Lift my foot off the accelerator, and loudly (I was driving alone) ask "What the **** just happened?" By that time I was at 35 and the trailer was back behind me where it belonged. Total time, maybe a second or two. It was then and only then that the brake controller emergency lever came to mind. I looked down at the controller and thought "How fast would I really be able to get to it in an emergency?".
So I came up with an idea that I really think anybody who has a brake controller should do. From now on I'm going to ask my passenger to prompt me to try to get to that lever. But with safety in mind under the condition that we must already be completely stopped when they yell.
So at some point on the trip, whether at a stop light, a gas station, when stopped waiting to make a turn, setting the parking brake at camp etc, the passenger loudly yells out the word SWAY! When this happens the driver has to try to get to and apply that lever fast. Heck, thinking about it I might just give the kids carte blanche to yell sway any time they are in the truck, again with the condition that we must be at a complete stop and no more than once per trip, or hour, or day, or week...
I'm sure the first few times will be comical as dad tries to get to the lever too fast and instead punches the steering wheel or the dash and completely misses the controller. But with a bit of practice hopefully I'll calm down and take that extra half second necessary to confidently reach for and apply the lever.
Your thoughts?
I've driven this same route regularly for 39 years without incident. But it had been raining and in Southern California rain means slippery roads. I thought I was being careful by taking a corner at 40 mph that I normally take at 50. All of a sudden the trailer breaks loose and starts to slide wide toward the shoulder. I was able to do two things in the time allotted before I got it back under control. Lift my foot off the accelerator, and loudly (I was driving alone) ask "What the **** just happened?" By that time I was at 35 and the trailer was back behind me where it belonged. Total time, maybe a second or two. It was then and only then that the brake controller emergency lever came to mind. I looked down at the controller and thought "How fast would I really be able to get to it in an emergency?".
So I came up with an idea that I really think anybody who has a brake controller should do. From now on I'm going to ask my passenger to prompt me to try to get to that lever. But with safety in mind under the condition that we must already be completely stopped when they yell.
So at some point on the trip, whether at a stop light, a gas station, when stopped waiting to make a turn, setting the parking brake at camp etc, the passenger loudly yells out the word SWAY! When this happens the driver has to try to get to and apply that lever fast. Heck, thinking about it I might just give the kids carte blanche to yell sway any time they are in the truck, again with the condition that we must be at a complete stop and no more than once per trip, or hour, or day, or week...
I'm sure the first few times will be comical as dad tries to get to the lever too fast and instead punches the steering wheel or the dash and completely misses the controller. But with a bit of practice hopefully I'll calm down and take that extra half second necessary to confidently reach for and apply the lever.
Your thoughts?
