Towing above 65

BurbMan wrote:

jaycocreek wrote:
This accident that caused the death of the 3/4 ton pickup driver and his wife was caused by excessive speed pulling the travel trailer and trying to pass this semi before a long steep grade.

How fast was he going while trying to pass the semi? How fast was the semi going?

How did you conclude that the accident was caused by solely by speed and not by equipment failure, improper loading, improper hitch adjustment, driver tuning the radio, or other driver error or equipment problem?

the accident was caused by the driver of the RV-period for whatever reason....faulty equipment RV drivers fault, excessive speed RV drivers fault, trying to pass on that hill RV drivers fault....as the saying goes "your (insert name here) is dead because he or she was stupid

dadmomh wrote:
I'd been hoping the Mod would give us all a break, but so far, no luck. Even tire threads don't usually run on this long. Mod....HELP!

hey dude...if you don't want to read it don't click in and remove it from your favorites.....don't decide for those who want to read it, see others opinions or just vent that the mods should shut it down!

mich800 wrote:

jaycocreek wrote:

I am of the belief that with the PROPER equipment, and experience, that higher speeds are not any more of an accident waiting to happen than lower speeds.

Is that why the DOT estimates that more than 1,115 lives would be saved by a max speed of Truckers to 68mph.The truckers for the most part have the right equipment and they have the experience and training along with the medical card to be on the road.

So truckers kill at least 1,115 people driving 68+ and that was the cause of the accident? No wonder there are so many sue the trucking company ads on daytime tv. Wouldn't it be cheaper the set a speed limit for truckers or are they not really professionals that can police themselves?

more than likely the cause of the accident was some fool invading the truckers safe space that caused the accident....not the trucker....anyone who has towed an RV more than 50 feet has experienced the morons on the road ....those folks who have no idea how to merge into traffic from the on ramp or are to stupid to anticipate their exit and shoot across 3 lanes of traffic to get to the exit or decide the exit was the wrong one and begin to back up... and on and on ad nauseum........so many of the folks involved in accidents were actually the unsuspecting victims of an idiot violating not only traffic laws but common sense as well.....yep, you can't fix stupid

LarryJM wrote:

Whiskeyjack44 wrote:

PRodacy wrote:
In New Mexico and Colorado I don't believe I've ever seen anyone towing at less than 70. Usually the TTs stay with the rest of the traffic at 75.

Reading some of these posts I thought, "These guys have never towed the Southwest." Yup, ya either tow a little faster than you may be used to, or you hold up half the state behind you. Then when the oncoming traffic clears you better turn off your hearing aid and don't look to the left when they start streaming around you.

I've towed out west all along both I-10 and 40 including the northern I-80 route from Ca back to Wi and never found an issue towing at 60mph and as I've said before, I stay in the slow lane and could care less who, what and how fast folks "HAMMER DOWN" in the lanes to the left of me and whiz by. Not many, but some of the 60mph governed 18 wheelers also seem to do fine so all this hyperbole about towing less than IMO these excessive speed is just the proverbial "red herring".

What really concerns me is the misplaced logic used by those that think they have to "keep up with the JONES" and tow at 70, 75, 80 just because non RVers are going at those high speeds.

Larry

X2

BurbMan wrote:
Still not sure why this is so hard to understand: skill, conditions, and equipment. Sometimes 35 mph is too fast. On a nice sunny day on the interstate when the speed limit is 70, I have no problem going 70. Same road at night, depends on how far you can see with your headlights...even on a divided hiway you can't really use your brights if there is oncoming traffic and that usually means you need to reduce your speed accordingly.

I keep my brake controller turned way up so that I when I hit the binders, the TT is slowing the truck. The rig stops pretty darn quick. Which is why I rarely exceed 60 in the rain, because of the potential to lock up the TT axles, I turn the brake power down which increases my stopping distance.

So I say that 75 is not inherently unsafe IF you have the right equipment AND under the right conditions, and then we hear 1000 stories about rain, fog, traffic, deer, bad brakes, ST tires, etc etc etc....NONE of which are the right conditions OR the right equipment. Not sure why this is so hard for folks to understand.

Lynnmor, did you get the new self-adjusting brakes from Dexter? Those are on my upgrade list. I feel like Fred Flintstone under the TT with a brake tool adjusting drum brakes....they've had self adjusting brakes for what, 75 years, and still not standard equipment on an RV?

Wrong, wrong and wrong......75 is UNSAFE .... for any number of reasons....folks who can't get their heads around that need to be driving their rigs altogether at Talladega so the rest of us won't be put in harms way

I am not sure why people seem so intent on proving that one accident was not caused by excessive speed, what point are you trying to make? That towing at excessive speed is okay??

Jaycocreek has a description of an accident that, from talking to someone he trusts who was at the accident scene, was caused by excessive speed. For some reason my first thought was not that he was lying to us and creating a whole imaginary accident scene. I don't know what happened at the particular scene, on that date, on that road, in that state that Jaycocreek is talking about... but from towing my self, and having been to accident scenes as a firefighter (and still going to accident scenes as a firefighter), I'll take his explanation at face value.

I will continue to tow at what I consider a safe speed for my rig, whether or not some people think I can tow a lot faster.

Well, off to read other threads!

Happy, and safe, travels!

jaycocreek wrote:
Some of you guys need a life!

This is exactly what I said before the picture. This accident that caused the death of the 3/4 ton pickup driver and his wife was caused by excessive speed pulling the travel trailer and trying to pass this semi before a long steep grade. "

Now slowly, passing a semi requires speed and passing a semi with a travel trailer in tow, requires more speed. Okay I assume everyone agrees with that. Did I say excessive speed was solely to blame? No.... He was going to fast when he tried to pull back into the lane in front of the semi and he wrecked.

The point is, had he not tried to pass he would be alive today but he must have thought he had the skills or the speed to pass this semi safely, I assume. But the fact is, he didn't.

Now someone tell me in a 65mph zone coming down a short grade to only climb a steeper longer grade, how fast do you think these guys were going? I'm guessing the trucker had the petal to the metal to get a run at the grade and the rver found himself trying to pass an excelerating trucker in a 65 mph zone and he ran out of the two lane passing zone because that is where the wreck happened.

Having traveled the same route hundreds of times, that's my bet. Only the trucker knows for sure but speed was a factor for the rver wrecking because you can't pass a semi before a steep grade by going slowly.

That makes it sound more like a sloppy lane change. You can ball it up changing lanes at 50 mph if you do it abruptly enough.

coolbreeze01 wrote:
Give us a route and a date. The accident report will be easy to find. Really only interested in the official account. Thank you.

Like trying to nail Jello to a tree. :B

Give us a route and a date. The accident report will be easy to find. Really only interested in the official account. Thank you.

Some of you guys need a life!

This is exactly what I said before the picture. This accident that caused the death of the 3/4 ton pickup driver and his wife was caused by excessive speed pulling the travel trailer and trying to pass this semi before a long steep grade. "

Now slowly, passing a semi requires speed and passing a semi with a travel trailer in tow, requires more speed. Okay I assume everyone agrees with that. Did I say excessive speed was solely to blame? No.... He was going to fast when he tried to pull back into the lane in front of the semi and he wrecked.

The point is, had he not tried to pass he would be alive today but he must have thought he had the skills or the speed to pass this semi safely, I assume. But the fact is, he didn't.

Now someone tell me in a 65mph zone coming down a short grade to only climb a steeper longer grade, how fast do you think these guys were going? I'm guessing the trucker had the petal to the metal to get a run at the grade and the rver found himself trying to pass an excelerating trucker in a 65 mph zone and he ran out of the two lane passing zone because that is where the wreck happened.

Having traveled the same route hundreds of times, that's my bet. Only the trucker knows for sure but speed was a factor for the rver wrecking because you can't pass a semi before a steep grade by going slowly.