When to return to lane after passing.

[ugh]

I have towed many different trailers in the past. But, my current trailer seems to be the hardest. When I passed a slower vehicle on interstate, I was not sure if I was cleared and had enough distance to return to the lane. I don't know if it is my mirrors or what.

What is the best way to be sure that it is safe to return to the lane when towing a trailer. Would a rear camera on the TT help?

[mtrumpet]

Well, the moment that you mention Insurance Company, Lawsuit, Litigation, Lawyers, etc. it certainly makes sense then.

[OkSixpack]

mtrumpet wrote:

Dennis M M wrote:
As others said, I wait until I can see both headlights. Some truckers will flash you over, probably half of them will not. Many trucking companies have rules that prohibit their drivers from doing so.

If they do flash me in I respond with three flashes of my 4 ways. At night I have a dash switch that flashes just the trailer lights. That said I usually run about 62-63 so we do not pass a lot of trucks!

At night when flashing a truck back in it is better to flip your headlights off and on quickly rather than hit him with your high beams just as he is looking in the mirror.

This is the first that I've ever heard of this (?) I can't imagine why would they prohibit it? This has been a common practice in the trucking industry for a long, long time. Most trucks (and many RV's now) even have an "ICC" button (as you have to flash the trailer lights) for just that purpose.

They prohibit it because somewhere, sometime, someone got in an accident and sued the trucking company because the truck driver flashed his lights and they blamed him for the accident. Right or wrong, some don't allow it. I have heard it is also because the insurance companies don't allow it.
Jim

[K3WE]

mtrumpet wrote:

Dennis M M wrote:
As others said, I wait until I can see both headlights. Some truckers will flash you over, probably half of them will not. Many trucking companies have rules that prohibit their drivers from doing so.

If they do flash me in I respond with three flashes of my 4 ways. At night I have a dash switch that flashes just the trailer lights. That said I usually run about 62-63 so we do not pass a lot of trucks!

At night when flashing a truck back in it is better to flip your headlights off and on quickly rather than hit him with your high beams just as he is looking in the mirror.

This is the first that I've ever heard of this (?) I can't imagine why would they prohibit it? This has been a common practice in the trucking industry for a long, long time. Most trucks (and many RV's now) even have an "ICC" button (as you have to flash the trailer lights) for just that purpose.

The first I heard of it was approximately 30 years ago, at a training. The insurance person strongly recommended that we NOT give an "ok to come back" flash, nor pay close attention when we receive one.

It also comes up from time to time on this very discussion forum- can't count the times over the past few years.

It's a combination of legal paranoia, plus in this case, perhaps a shred of appropriate concern.

If a trucker gives an "ok to come over" flash and a wreck occurs, the trucking company suddenly has some liability (I'm not defending our lawsuit-crazy culture, but that's the way it is!)

Therefore, insurance and legal departments discourage (and probably in many cases prohibit) this. And indeed, while it is "has been a common practice for some time", there's always some schmuck who doesn't know the rules (and frankly these rules aren't written down anywhere anyway).

Just imagine some poorly screened, recent-immigrant truck driver: "The guy flashed his lights at me, and I figured it was a flat tire so I immediately pulled over and braked!"

In fact, I think I've seen a marked decline in the "ok to come back" light flashes- which I suspect is from increased "prohibition" of the practice by more and more companies.

[mtrumpet]

Dennis M M wrote:
As others said, I wait until I can see both headlights. Some truckers will flash you over, probably half of them will not. Many trucking companies have rules that prohibit their drivers from doing so.

If they do flash me in I respond with three flashes of my 4 ways. At night I have a dash switch that flashes just the trailer lights. That said I usually run about 62-63 so we do not pass a lot of trucks!

At night when flashing a truck back in it is better to flip your headlights off and on quickly rather than hit him with your high beams just as he is looking in the mirror.

This is the first that I've ever heard of this (?) I can't imagine why would they prohibit it? This has been a common practice in the trucking industry for a long, long time. Most trucks (and many RV's now) even have an "ICC" button (as you have to flash the trailer lights) for just that purpose.

[K3WE]

Given that there are wide and narrow and cuved and flat and ALL SORTS OF ADJUSTMENTS one can make to a mirror, this "see both headlights" strikes me as a recipe for disaster!

Last time I was driving JUST my little pickup truck, I was seeing "both headlights" and it was too soon to even pull JUST my truck back...let alone a trailer behind me.

I'm thinking this is a BAD recommendation- while it may "work for you", it seems way too likely that with someone else's mirror set up they might actually run the trailer into the person in the lane!

(Like others have said, I learned by first being overly cautious as well as looking at shadows when I could.)

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

When we got this trailer, DW and I went over to a local abandoned supermarket parking lot. We set her van in a spot and I maneuvered the truck TT up alongside and slowly moved forward until she told me I had enough clearance to pull back in front if I was passing. (She was in the van and we were talking on speaker phone )

I got out and measured the distance between the vehicles - 74 feet.

Went back to the truck and set the right side rear view so that I could just see both headlights.

We don't move that mirror and I know no matter what vehicle I pass, if I can see both headlights - I'm clear to come back into the lane on my right.

[hotpepperkid]

I set the center mirror to see the upper right hand cornor of the back window and when the object Im passing is out of sight I have room if I have to but other wise I can tell in the mirror if I have room not a big deal

[Dick_B]

It's been awhile since I towed (last February) but I seem to remember that if the headlight image of the passed vehicle takes up less than half of the width of the side mirror it's OK to pull back in.
This presumes the mirror has flat glass and not one of those `the objects may be closer than you think' mirrors.

[MarkTwain]

OkSixpack wrote:

djgarcia wrote:

ugh wrote:
I have towed many different trailers in the past. But, my current trailer seems to be the hardest. When I passed a slower vehicle on interstate, I was not sure if I was cleared and had enough distance to return to the lane. I don't know if it is my mirrors or what.

What is the best way to be sure that it is safe to return to the lane when towing a trailer. Would a rear camera on the TT help?

1. get bigger mirrors that are attached sufficiently to prevent any visual vibrations while you are driving.
2. buy some larger mirrors like the ones you see on Dodge and Ford trucks, that are permanently mounted to your truck that flip up when you are towing.
3. When passing truckers, turn your turn signal on and wait until the trucker flashes his lights. Do the same for truckers with they are trying to get merge onto the road.
4. Use your CB radio to talk with the trucker and ask him if you are clear. When the trucker passes you, flash your high beams to signal him it is safe to pull back in front of you.

That's not always correct any more. Some trucking companies do not allow their drivers to flash their lights now. It's not always the fault of the truck driver, hust the rules they have to follow. Having said that, I agree with you, and do flash my lights for trucks.
Jim

thanks for the update Jim. The other thing I do is make sure I am doing approx. 10 MPH faster than the truck when I pass. Just what works for me.

[coolbreeze01]

ugh wrote:
I have towed many different trailers in the past. But, my current trailer seems to be the hardest. When I passed a slower vehicle on interstate, I was not sure if I was cleared and had enough distance to return to the lane. I don't know if it is my mirrors or what.

What is the best way to be sure that it is safe to return to the lane when towing a trailer. Would a rear camera on the TT help?

Do you have towing mirrors? Are you using your throttle to get around or just maintaining cruise speed?

Sounds dangerous.

[Stormpeakco]

New to GoodSam forum and the information/interaction is terrific. Thanks.
We (Wife and I) just purchased/installed (not a "techy" nor a huge "DIYr") a continuous-view, rear view camera (digital, wireless) for added safety while passing trucks (but useful for backing up-night time IR, monitoring the status of the bikes on our "1UPusa"-bike rear rack) but have only used it in our garage-driveway and not on the open highway (to test for any interference with multiple other digital/analog noise).

It establishes a digital, fixed-wireless, "hot spot" and we wanted to modify the camera/router mount/"power wiring" for our 20' long (collapsed while towing) Trailmanor. We placed the 12V powered Netgear router inside the rear of the TV, mounted the Sharx camera to the AC shroud and hardwired the camera power to the tongue battery pigtail (avoiding having to open/close the TT to begin/terminate power to the camera/router). Our distances (published range specs are far more generous) are modest (~8' from router to monitor-which is our own android base smart phone and camera to router ~17') though part of the beauty is using ones own smartphone (w/included app, free download) as the monitor to sit on the dash (sand bag mount similar to a Garmin GPS mount).

Interested folks may view the video (youtube) that was cited on one of the air stream forums a couple months ago.
http://www.rvrearviewcamera.com/home.html
(NOTE: customer resource/technical service is 10+ AND I have no personal nor financial relationship with this firm). Hope this helps.

[myredracer]

First of all, don't attempt a pass unless it is totally safe and you don't have to speed excessively to get past. There was a recent thread on the forum about an RV-er towing a trailer on a highway who tried to pass a semi and lost control and the occupants died.

If you can't tell if there is adequate clearance, then you're too close - pull farther ahead until you are 100% positive there's plenty. Way too much is better than not enough. As long as there are proper towing mirrors, it shouldn't be *that* hard to judge tho.

Can help to put your turn signal on before/as you pull along alongside the other driver so they can tell in advance you are about to move back into that lane so they can slow down if necessary (or brake hard!...). Move back into the lane slowly at first so if perchance you are too close, the other driver can honk before you get too close (or brake hard!...). If having some difficulty and traffic is busy, drive a bit farther/longer down the road before trying to return to the lane until you know there is space - other drivers will know (hopefully) that you are waiting/trying to move over and will hopefully give you some space.

[e-light]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
If you can't see the rear corner of your trailer and the vehicle you're passing in your side mirror, the mirror setup is inadequate.

+1

[C-Bears]

Don't start looking for shadows to try to see if there is enough room to pull back in, that is just going to cause you to run someone off the road depending on where the sun is!

Seeing their two headlights should work. But if you have pulled for several hundred miles and are still uncomfortable when passing then maybe you should invest in a rear view camera system. Class A's generally have them because they can't see their towed vehicle, which makes sense. Generally fivers and TT's just figure out where their rear end is and don't really need the cameras.