Towing wreck - overloaded hitch

Scary to think of the people on the roadways who haven't done things correctly that endanger the rest of us. We had an incident at our local lake last summer involving a boat trailer coming unhitched and demolishing a toy hauler. Seems the boat owner didn't hook up his safety chains or breakaway cable as he was 'only' towing a couple miles to the boat ramp.

GeoBoy wrote:
The bottom line is that a person lost their life, children were injured and will never spend another day with their father!!
Why, it appears that the trailer builder didn't include brakes or safety chains and the person towing the trailer appeared to be negligent.
The driver, trailer builder and owner of the trailer should go to jail!

The requirement for trailer brakes varies from state to state. One can buy a trailer in one state where it is a requirement above say 3500 lbs, go into there state where it is say 1000 lbs, and tow something. So is this really the trailer manufactures issue on something like this?

Safety chains depending upon the design, how installed, could also be removed by the owner buyer for what ever reason. Again, should the trailer manufacture be liable for the owner/operator of the trailers negligence in an issue like this?

"IF" the trailer builder is a corporation, you will not be able to get the "owner(s)" to go to jail, as they are protected a majority of the time for issues like this, same with employee's. The only thing you can get from them is money in a civil suit. The jail time has to come from a legal suit, and legal will not usually go after a manufacture. And even then, since there is more than one building and designing the trailer, hard to pin point the % of who is really at fault. See some of BenK's posts in regard to the suits he has had to deal with.

Then you have the trailer hitch manufacture, as one of my hitches says, 5000 lbs limit, EXCEPT as used to tow a mobil home, then it is 15K or 20K lbs of trailer! Probably because it will be a one or two time useage vs potentially daily!

Many ways to answer the original issue, who is at fault etc. Same with the licensing issue, is it the door plate? or the paid for license? or some combo of both?

Marty

The bottom line is that a person lost their life, children were injured and will never spend another day with their father!!
Why, it appears that the trailer builder didn't include brakes or safety chains and the person towing the trailer appeared to be negligent.
The driver, trailer builder and owner of the trailer should go to jail!

Has there ever been a "certified" home built trailer?
If so, who "certified" it, and to what standards?
Most of them around here are built out of the back half of an old pickup (my last one said "INTERNATIONAL" on the tailgate). Bend the frame rails together, weld in a tongue, install a 1 7/8 or 2 inch hitch, wire the lights, and it is a trailer. There are a LOT of them hauling firewood, hay, and whatever else. Very few (if any) have surge brakes installed. I have never seen one with electric brakes. If the GVW is kept under 3000 lbs., brakes are not required anyway. If brakes are not installed, a breakaway braking system obviously can not be installed, either. Safety chains or cables ARE required.
The first trailer ever built was a "home built" unit (undoubtedly "uncertified"), and they have been available ever since. In reality, I doubt that there have been any more accidents involving a homebuilt trailer than with factory built fully engineered and certified units.
I know of one such accident involving a fatality on the freeway near here. It was a fully CERTIFIED factory built flatbed trailer, BUT the 2 inch hitch was on a 1 7/8 inch ball, the safety chains were not hooked up, the brakes were not functioning, and there was no breakaway system installed (the system hadn't been invented when the trailer was built).
The point is, NO "certification" will ever offset operator stupidity. Neither will any law!

Even if the pizza oven carrier had been a commercial van and trailer combo the van driver can still face civil lawsuits if that was the case.

Now having said that the combo in question would have never passed a new entrant audit or a vehicle safety test for commercial vehicles.

Home made trailer with no certification...
No brakes....
No brake away safety system....
Plus other defects CHIP came up with...

Chip is focused on the trailer/hitch and unsafe accessories for a safe tow with no concern of the towing vehicle.

rhagfo wrote:

MM49 wrote:
This discussion should focus on commercial use VS. private use.
MM49

Not so much a commercial use VS. private, as proper hitching and brakes!!

Based on the OP, while the hitch weight rating was exceeded, it was the incorrect, inferior or non attachment of the safety chains, and the lack of break away brakes on the trailer.

Commercial use has strict compliance laws. Private use negligence has to be proven, Intent to behave unsafely.
MM49

MM49 wrote:
This discussion should focus on commercial use VS. private use.
MM49

Not so much a commercial use VS. private, as proper hitching and brakes!!

Based on the OP, while the hitch weight rating was exceeded, it was the incorrect, inferior or non attachment of the safety chains, and the lack of break away brakes on the trailer.

This discussion should focus on commercial use VS. private use.
MM49

Thanks all for the explanation. Here the state just goes by the GVWR and you pay the same $54 for 6k - 10k or $110 for 10k-18k. We don't have much in the way of weight police down here. They mostly target the commercial guys at the state lines or the ones running back and forth to the rigs in the Eagle Ford Shale.

My 10K GVW doesn't cost me anything here in Montana.
the truck is more than 11 years old, therefore it has PERMANENT registration. I never have to renew it as long as I own the truck. The GVW is also permanent.
Of course, that permanent registration cost me $253!