Forum Discussion
69 Replies
- According to the DOT standards, every line is 10 ft long with a 30 ft space......so beginning of one white line to the next is 40 ft.
I counted 20 lines at the semi hood in 9.8 sec.
That is 20x40=800 feet in 9.8 sec.
60 sec / 9.8 = 6.1
6.1 x 800 = 4880 ft per min or almost exactly 55 mph.
I don't even think the F250 was even going 65, maybe 63 mph.
It appears to be a long bed (can't tell) and is shorter than a crew cab (extra cab).
Looks like setup and weight distribution.
Btw my math may not be totally correct....disclaimer before someone rips me a new one for being 2mph off. ChooChooMan74 wrote:
samhain7 wrote:
Maybe he didn't even have a brake controller???
No brakes? It is possible the driver forgot to hook up the trailer to the truck....I am sure it's happened to a few of us at one point.
But, yeah, they really are movin'
It seems wind gusts do it. European Caravans have pretty low weights on the tow bar. You get this with a gust of wind.
Video of a similar accident with a European Caravan towed by a Van
Polish Caravan towed by car overtaking a Trucksamhain7 wrote:
Maybe he didn't even have a brake controller???
No brakes? It is possible the driver forgot to hook up the trailer to the truck....I am sure it's happened to a few of us at one point.
But, yeah, they really are movin'- Well I had something similar happen to me, with a better result. I fell asleep and the rumble strips woke me. As you can see from the video below the truck swayed quite a bit. I did have both Torklift stable loads and a superhitch & supertruss. I figure both probably helped. I did not have time to think about manually applying the trailer brakes as I had only just woken up.
This highway was in Nevada, BTW.
Asleep CavemanCharlie wrote:
Muddydogs wrote:
From what I see as soon as the trailer came through the tractor trailers wind cone the trailer started to sway, this is not uncommon especially since the truck looks to be a little tail heavy. A cross wind aggravates the situation although I couldn't tell from the video how much if any wind was present. If the driver had used the brake controller the trailer brake light should have lit up so I have to assume he never touched the brakes.
I would think instead of trashing the operator and providing no real useful information we as a group should be discussing this and maybe providing useful information that might help keep someone else out of this situation.
What I would have done in this situation, I have been here a couple times towing rigs for work that weren't set up quite right, is as soon as I felt the trailer start to sway I would have got my finger on the trailer brake controller and started to apply the trailer brakes which usually takes care of the problem right away. If I reacted to slow and the sway got excessive I would have applied the trailer brakes and powered up the truck to pull the trailer straight. Once the rig straightened out I would pull over and rework the hitch setup.
To tell you the truth passing a tractor trailer is my ultimate test of how well my truck trailer combo is set up. When I hook onto a new trailer I feel the rig out and avoid passing big rigs on the freeway until I have a feel of the combo and am confident that its set up right and running well. You know you have a good combo when you pass a big rig going down hill in a Wyoming cross wind and the trailer doesn't wiggle. From my experience speed isn't really an issue if the rig is set up right. As for the feel well its all in your rear. Your butt is connected to the seat and will give you the first indications that something is getting loose before you see it in the mirrors.
I agree with this.
Except I don't think the trailer brake lights come one when I apply the trailer brakes with the controller. I'm not sure though.
For those of you saying he should have hit his pickup brake that is the worst thing you can do. Actually, he did a purdy good job of hanging on to it. Maybe the trailer brakes were not hooked up?? We have no real way of knowing from that video what all the conditions were.
I agree. You are actually safer speeding up vs slowing down with a wagging trailer....that is if you can't get the trailer brake to engage first manually.RoyB wrote:
I also noted the dashcam guy did not stop - just appeared to keep on going...
Definitely out West with a whole lot of plains with mountain range off in the distance... AZ-NM I40 maybe...
Roy Ken
YouTube says I-86, Idaho. One more fool and his insurance company's money are parted.Muddydogs wrote:
From what I see as soon as the trailer came through the tractor trailers wind cone the trailer started to sway, this is not uncommon especially since the truck looks to be a little tail heavy. A cross wind aggravates the situation although I couldn't tell from the video how much if any wind was present. If the driver had used the brake controller the trailer brake light should have lit up so I have to assume he never touched the brakes.
I would think instead of trashing the operator and providing no real useful information we as a group should be discussing this and maybe providing useful information that might help keep someone else out of this situation.
What I would have done in this situation, I have been here a couple times towing rigs for work that weren't set up quite right, is as soon as I felt the trailer start to sway I would have got my finger on the trailer brake controller and started to apply the trailer brakes which usually takes care of the problem right away. If I reacted to slow and the sway got excessive I would have applied the trailer brakes and powered up the truck to pull the trailer straight. Once the rig straightened out I would pull over and rework the hitch setup.
To tell you the truth passing a tractor trailer is my ultimate test of how well my truck trailer combo is set up. When I hook onto a new trailer I feel the rig out and avoid passing big rigs on the freeway until I have a feel of the combo and am confident that its set up right and running well. You know you have a good combo when you pass a big rig going down hill in a Wyoming cross wind and the trailer doesn't wiggle. From my experience speed isn't really an issue if the rig is set up right. As for the feel well its all in your rear. Your butt is connected to the seat and will give you the first indications that something is getting loose before you see it in the mirrors.
I agree with this.
Except I don't think the trailer brake lights come one when I apply the trailer brakes with the controller. I'm not sure though.
For those of you saying he should have hit his pickup brake that is the worst thing you can do. Actually, he did a purdy good job of hanging on to it. Maybe the trailer brakes were not hooked up?? We have no real way of knowing from that video what all the conditions were.Muddydogs wrote:
From what I see as soon as the trailer came through the tractor trailers wind cone the trailer started to sway, this is not uncommon especially since the truck looks to be a little tail heavy. A cross wind aggravates the situation although I couldn't tell from the video how much if any wind was present. If the driver had used the brake controller the trailer brake light should have lit up so I have to assume he never touched the brakes.
I would think instead of trashing the operator and providing no real useful information we as a group should be discussing this and maybe providing useful information that might help keep someone else out of this situation.
What I would have done in this situation, I have been here a couple times towing rigs for work that weren't set up quite right, is as soon as I felt the trailer start to sway I would have got my finger on the trailer brake controller and started to apply the trailer brakes which usually takes care of the problem right away. If I reacted to slow and the sway got excessive I would have applied the trailer brakes and powered up the truck to pull the trailer straight. Once the rig straightened out I would pull over and rework the hitch setup.
To tell you the truth passing a tractor trailer is my ultimate test of how well my truck trailer combo is set up. When I hook onto a new trailer I feel the rig out and avoid passing big rigs on the freeway until I have a feel of the combo and am confident that its set up right and running well. You know you have a good combo when you pass a big rig going down hill in a Wyoming cross wind and the trailer doesn't wiggle. From my experience speed isn't really an issue if the rig is set up right. As for the feel well its all in your rear. Your butt is connected to the seat and will give you the first indications that something is getting loose before you see it in the mirrors.
Which is what it looked like to me. The undulation should have been stopped before it became dangerous. Snaking is common with badly loaded or tail heavy Caravans in my case. Side winds are the missing ingredient- 33 to 40 guaranteed that guy was a race car driver.
You don't learn that move anywhere but a race track! When a car is coming at you at 70 MPH you learn to get off of the track quickly!
Tongue weight, tongue weight, tongue weight people!! Lets keep it safe out there! - All I can say. The TT wasn't that big. So he has plenty of truck. I believe his tongue weight to be light, in large part because of the carrier on the back.
There is NO substitute for a properly setup WDH. His wasn't. AND if you look. The truck was RAISED. So, It appears to be a poorly setup combination.
