Cleanup of 5th wheel accident in California

I watch a few big rig wrecker truck owner/operators YT's that make them when on their calls.
I've seen several you tubes with one ton DRW....4500....5500 size trucks pulling all types mostly non rv trailers with the truck laying on its side or roof beside the trailer or even under the trailer. Class 8 tractor/trailers aren't exempt either.

Scary situation for that family. I would 'spect the driver learned something about truck trailer combo's.

Maybe folks that live in that area can keep us posted on CA DOT findings.

noteven wrote:
T bone collision on the pickup - rig jacknifed- trailer runs over pickup and flops it when flimsy rv hitch lets go......

The hitch looked fine. What let go was the mounting rails the hitch attached to. I wonder if any type of mountings would have survived. I'm more surprised the truck took a worse beating than the FW, especially with all the stories about their supposed lousy frames.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

I'd almost take you up on that bet. ;) With California in pursuit of the all almighty dollar they have been pulling the fast yellow for a long time and causing accidents by doing so.

Feel free. If it's below 3 seconds yellow with a 1 second all red, I would be shocked. It should be higher than that but I was referring to the 2 second yellow comment.

I've played this game before and setup the clearance interval guidelines for another state (based on the ITE method). The article you linked to made some nice allusions but never dug into the numbers or how it functions.

More importantly, people have a horrible sense of time, so when someone says it's 2 seconds, I can tell you with a very high degree of certainty that they are wrong.

noteven wrote:
T bone collision on the pickup - rig jacknifed- trailer runs over pickup and flops it when flimsy rv hitch lets go. Ford SOS horn feature activated.


Glad no one was seriously injured.

I was thinking the same. No fault in the tow vehicle. Same could have happened regardless of make and regardless or the driver's towing experience. A DRW probably might have not flipped over, but a SRW would regardless if it was a 1 ton or 3/4 ton.

I am just glad everyone was okay.

T bone collision on the pickup - rig jacknifed- trailer runs over pickup and flops it when flimsy rv hitch lets go. Ford SOS horn feature activated.


Glad no one was seriously injured.

valhalla360 wrote:

2oldman wrote:

Travlingman wrote:
"Driver comments:

"Update to incident: I was traveling 40 mph and the light went to yellow switched in less than 2 seconds. I did run the light, it was my fault 100% however after talking to CHP he says these lights are not timed correctly. I could not stop in time,"

I drove by this on Thursday morning.

Perhaps this particular light was faulty. However, 40mph is well below the speed limit on that road. I've driven this route many times and cringed every time I approached one of these signals, praying it didn't turn yellow at the worst moment. This is essentially a freeway with stoplights, and the CA highway dept won't install impending signal change warning lights several hundred feet before the stoplight. This is common practice in many areas of WA where speeds are 50mph or greater. It's very nice to KNOW that the light is about to change.

I wrote the state of CA about this earlier this year, and their response was essentially "it's not in our code book."

I'll give you 1000-1 odds if you go out there with a stop watch, it's much longer than a 2 sec yellow and there is likely an all red period after the yellow.

I'd almost take you up on that bet. ;) With California in pursuit of the all almighty dollar they have been pulling the fast yellow for a long time and causing accidents by doing so.

How ridiculous.

The truck pulling the trailer gets hit in the rear of the truck because he ran a suspect light change.

And you guys are discussing what exactly?

First guy not knowing anything says, newbies watch this? WTH?

Then,did his off road tires added to the roll over? WHAT?!?!

Nothing about weight? (well, almost nothing) Simply amazing how biased people are here. If that was a 1/2 ton or SUV towing any trailer...this would be a 25 page accusatory thread.


The only interesting post has been about the 5th wheel hitch and how it reacted to this crash! Otherwise...all garbage posts are here!!!

old guy wrote:
I saw this this morning, it was a 3/4 ton ford and he was trying to tow 24K with it. it upset me that the guy on the right shoulder didn't move and had to be told to move by CHP so the traffic could get by savely.

:S


Check the Heartland web site, largest two axle TH has a GVWR of 17,000#, but only has a CC of 1,635# :S in a tow Hauler?

I can see getting to 20K, but with the TV having a lift and larger tires likely had more to do with it. The 3,400# DRY hitch weight also could be an issue. Larger diameter tires reduce braking power of the TV.

This is likely beyond the tire capacity also.

PopBeavers wrote:
One of the tow trucks is from Indio, near Palm Springs. Long shadows indicate either early morning or late evening.

Early Morning. I live near here and a buddy of mine saw it on his way to the farm. Lots of agriculture down in that area. He thought trailer got rear ended but clearly not what happened. Sun at that time of the morning is directly in your eyes. Could have been a factor.

I'm shocked at the condition of the trailer. Looks like you could pull up with a new truck and head out.