But the trailer pictured above and many others are not designed to haul animals; they are cargo trailers that have been modified to secure dog crates and are environmentally controlled (i.e. AC). The construction of cargo trailers, travel trailers, class A motorhomes, and the living quarters of class Cs are all the same; stick structures built on top of a metal frame. All will have the same fate in a roll-over; the stick structure will collapse. The attitude that dogs are safer in a motorhome than in a trailer is a fallacy (neither are designed for crash protection). The attitude that dogs are safer loose in a tow vehicle than in a secured crate in an RV is a fallacy (loose dogs are tossed about in the vehicle and can be ejected).
What most people bring up are catastrophic accidents and the state of trailers after words. This is then used to establish transporting in trailers is less safe than in motorhomes or tow vehicles. The problem with this logic is that no one ever also reports the state of tow vehicles or motorhomes after catastrophic accidents and how that relates to the safety of dogs transported in them. Many dogs transported in vehicles are placed in the crumple zones, cargo areas designed to be crushed to protect the passenger seating areas. Based upon the picture below, this is not safe (same logic being used with trailers).
Transport in trailers can be done safely when appropriate measures are taken: secure the crate, control the environment, and possibly add a video monitoring system. These are the same steps that rescue orgs take when modifying cargo trailers for use as rescue transportation.
