RV Dangling off bridge

I find it interesting about the tail wagging the dog.

Many on this site think nothing about towing a trailer that is about 4 times the weight of their truck.

But let a SUV tow a trailer that is only about 1.2 times the weight of the SUV and they cry too much weight for the SUV.

True the SUV may not have the required tow rating but when it comes to the tail wagging the dog the SUV is much more capable when towing weights described above.

I am sure if any of the toy haulers on this site were side swiped by a 15,000 lb truck the out come would be similar.

I picked 15,000 because the vehicle that side swiped the trailer in this posting was probably about 1/2 the weight of the trailer involved.

dodge guy wrote:

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
He’s extremely lucky. Even if it wasn’t his fault, an Explorer pulling a trailer that’s just under 25 ft long with a GVWR of 6005 lbs is trouble waiting to happen.

Just because it has a GVWR of 6k lbs, doesn't mean it was loaded to that. At 4k lbs dry and not much storage, I don't see them loading to more than 5k lbs. not to say they couldn't have done that, but it would be hard.
they had more than enough tongue weight!

I have an Explorer very similar to the one pictured, so I have a fairly good idea how it handles (sluggish). We considered getting a small trailer for local camping. I decided not to in part because I didn’t want to pull a trailer over 21 ft long with the Explorer. Anything less than 21 feet was too small inside for us. In addition visibility was a problem. The sideview mirrors on the Explorer are useless for towing, you can’t get mirror extensions and I didn’t want a McKesh style mirror.
Whether he was at 5000lbs or over doesn’t matter. IMO, a near 25 ft long trailer on a mid-sized SUV is a bad idea. Combine that with a trailer which is heavy for the Explorer is going to make for bad emergency handling. That is what I meant by “trouble waiting to happen.” Accidents happen and you don’t get to choose their time and place. Good visibility can help in avoiding them and having a stable combination of TV and trailer is important as well. Given the circumstances, it could have been a much, much, worse outcome.

A 20 year old driver does a pit maneuver on a travel trailer and we had numerous blame the victim comments. :R

d3500ram wrote:
So they lifted the rear of the trailer and used the TV to pull forwrd to get it back on the surface:

I hope the guy who drove the Explorer put plastic on the seat. You know it was a mess.

I agree, staying within a tow vehicles capabilities is paramount. Reading the limited details of how the accident occurred, this could have easily been an f250 or any other ¾ ton tv attached to that trailer. No doubt he was close to his limits and may have been over but we don’t know one way or the other. We can say the same about a 35ft tt weighing in 10K+ being pulled by (Insert your 3/4/1 ton here) and the same laws of physics apply. Accidents happen and there is no stopping that. All we can do is stay within capacities and capabilities of both truck and trailer and drive defensive and conservative in our approach. Even then it’s not going to stop a inattentive Hyundai Elantra driver from drifting into your lane and crashing into you

pennysmom09 wrote:

dhust wrote:
According to This report the trailer was hit on the left and then again on the right rear causing it to fishtail and climb the rail.

This! The first I read about it was that it was not the RV drivers fault, just a bad situation.
I totally sympathize with the camper owner.....no reason to criticize tow vehicle, etc. Glad they weren't injured.

I don't think we should criticize the tow vehicle, however much of the debate and even towing parameters are focused on the unexpected things that could happen.
There is a point where mass matters. A larger, stouter vehicle is capable of withstanding larger forces, this may not matter much on a good day. But on a bad day it can make all the difference.
This thread is proof the unexpected happens. We often focus on wind and bad weather and known conditions that impact are travel.
However bad things can happen in a hurry on a clear sunny day as well.

dhust wrote:
According to This report the trailer was hit on the left and then again on the right rear causing it to fishtail and climb the rail.

This! The first I read about it was that it was not the RV drivers fault, just a bad situation.
I totally sympathize with the camper owner.....no reason to criticize tow vehicle, etc. Glad they weren't injured.

True. But it will probably be closer to the GVWR than the UVW.

dodge guy wrote:

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
He’s extremely lucky. Even if it wasn’t his fault, an Explorer pulling a trailer that’s just under 25 ft long with a GVWR of 6005 lbs is trouble waiting to happen.

Just because it has a GVWR of 6k lbs, doesn't mean it was loaded to that.

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
He’s extremely lucky. Even if it wasn’t his fault, an Explorer pulling a trailer that’s just under 25 ft long with a GVWR of 6005 lbs is trouble waiting to happen.

Just because it has a GVWR of 6k lbs, doesn't mean it was loaded to that. At 4k lbs dry and not much storage, I don't see them loading to more than 5k lbs. not to say they couldn't have done that, but it would be hard.

looks like it was a very unfortunate accident in the worst possible place!

As was said, they are very lucky! looking at the pic of the trailer hanging over the side, they had more than enough tongue weight!

spud1957 wrote:

Halmfamily wrote:
The news report says a 23 year old driving a Hyundai Elantra drifted into the lane hitting the trailer in the back left corner causing the accident. Driver was charged.

Finally someone posted what actually happened!!!

This is what the news reported as well; he was hit from the side (and completely different than our "experts" presumptions).
Very sad, family on their way to Disney World.
Hope they get a few good days in.