Trailer accident on mm47 I 40 N C

[Skylark]

Accident I 40

[JAC1982]

hohenwald48 wrote:

JAC1982 wrote:

LadyRVer wrote:
Sad...glad no one was injured.

Now, for a question I see posted a lot.....riding in the camper? Leaving pets in the camper while driving??????

The pet thing really gets me... it's like, seriously????

We don't leave anything in the camper while towing that we'd be devastated to lose and/or can't be replaced with money from insurance.

Side story, we went and purchased a small enclosed Haulmark utility trailer from a dealer. While hooking it up, my husband asked the shop guy if the ball size we had on the truck was correct, because he couldn't quite tell, and we had the other size in the truck so we could swap if needed, the shop guy said what we had was correct. We take it onto I-70, and were in the far left lane as it was a left exit where we needed to go. The interstate is 4 or 5 lanes wide at this spot (near Arvada/Wheat Ridge for anybody who is familiar). We hit a bump, and off the trailer goes. It was being held onto our truck by the safety chains, but wagging around all over the place. Thankfully, we have a large truck, and there weren't too many cars around. Husband managed to pull over on the left shoulder without damaging the trailer on the concrete median (bumper of his truck was pretty messed up from the trailer hitting it multiple times).

Turned out the ball size was incorrect to begin with, and the guy at the dealer shop gave us the wrong information. Needless to say, the dealer paid for a new hitch stand on the trailer, a bumper for our truck and installed some tie downs that we had purchased, for free. We avoided what could have been a major disaster, thankfully.

Why should the dealer pay? Connecting a trailer to a truck properly is the responsibility of the truck operator in my opinion. Why blame somebody else when it's a simple matter for you to check the ball size yourself?

You know, I part way agree with you. We should have checked it more carefully. But the fact that we weren't sure, and so we asked someone who should have known better, was why they paid. For the record, we didn't really ask them to pay for anything, they asked us what they could do for us (which is when my husband asked if they could install the tie downs we had already purchased) and they volunteered to fix the bumper. The only thing we asked them to do before that was come help us out on the side of the interstate because the trailer was broken so we couldn't rehitch it ourselves and we were only a couple miles from them. They took it from there.

And, we will always visit that trailer dealer in the future whenever we need a utility trailer, and will tell our friends to do the same, because they made things right even when they didn't have to.

[hohenwald48]

JAC1982 wrote:

LadyRVer wrote:
Sad...glad no one was injured.

Now, for a question I see posted a lot.....riding in the camper? Leaving pets in the camper while driving??????

The pet thing really gets me... it's like, seriously????

We don't leave anything in the camper while towing that we'd be devastated to lose and/or can't be replaced with money from insurance.

Side story, we went and purchased a small enclosed Haulmark utility trailer from a dealer. While hooking it up, my husband asked the shop guy if the ball size we had on the truck was correct, because he couldn't quite tell, and we had the other size in the truck so we could swap if needed, the shop guy said what we had was correct. We take it onto I-70, and were in the far left lane as it was a left exit where we needed to go. The interstate is 4 or 5 lanes wide at this spot (near Arvada/Wheat Ridge for anybody who is familiar). We hit a bump, and off the trailer goes. It was being held onto our truck by the safety chains, but wagging around all over the place. Thankfully, we have a large truck, and there weren't too many cars around. Husband managed to pull over on the left shoulder without damaging the trailer on the concrete median (bumper of his truck was pretty messed up from the trailer hitting it multiple times).

Turned out the ball size was incorrect to begin with, and the guy at the dealer shop gave us the wrong information. Needless to say, the dealer paid for a new hitch stand on the trailer, a bumper for our truck and installed some tie downs that we had purchased, for free. We avoided what could have been a major disaster, thankfully.

Why should the dealer pay? Connecting a trailer to a truck properly is the responsibility of the truck operator in my opinion. Why blame somebody else when it's a simple matter for you to check the ball size yourself?

[camperforlife]

I posted a picture of a trailer that crashed and was destroyed that the drivers kid was riding inside but survived. A semi clipped it as it was turning. It was local and I saw it in person. The driver was cited because it was illegal to ride inside where the crash happened. The thread got shut down because of the number of people arguing about it being their right to ride inside if they want to. Still shaking my head.

[JAC1982]

Campfire Time wrote:
And where in the story did say anything about people or pets in the camper?

Nowhere, but we see threads on here somewhat often where people ask about riding in trailers, or leaving their pet in the trailer while towing. The incident referenced above is exactly why leaving anything valuable, living or not, in your trailer while towing is a bad idea.

[rbpru]

Rather sparse on the information. First impression is the trailer came loose. Many more questions than answers.

[Campfire_Time]

And where in the story did say anything about people or pets in the camper?

[JAC1982]

LadyRVer wrote:
Sad...glad no one was injured.

Now, for a question I see posted a lot.....riding in the camper? Leaving pets in the camper while driving??????

The pet thing really gets me... it's like, seriously????

We don't leave anything in the camper while towing that we'd be devastated to lose and/or can't be replaced with money from insurance.

Side story, we went and purchased a small enclosed Haulmark utility trailer from a dealer. While hooking it up, my husband asked the shop guy if the ball size we had on the truck was correct, because he couldn't quite tell, and we had the other size in the truck so we could swap if needed, the shop guy said what we had was correct. We take it onto I-70, and were in the far left lane as it was a left exit where we needed to go. The interstate is 4 or 5 lanes wide at this spot (near Arvada/Wheat Ridge for anybody who is familiar). We hit a bump, and off the trailer goes. It was being held onto our truck by the safety chains, but wagging around all over the place. Thankfully, we have a large truck, and there weren't too many cars around. Husband managed to pull over on the left shoulder without damaging the trailer on the concrete median (bumper of his truck was pretty messed up from the trailer hitting it multiple times).

Turned out the ball size was incorrect to begin with, and the guy at the dealer shop gave us the wrong information. Needless to say, the dealer paid for a new hitch stand on the trailer, a bumper for our truck and installed some tie downs that we had purchased, for free. We avoided what could have been a major disaster, thankfully.

[K_Charles]

If the trailer came off the truck it may not be an accident. They have a lot of stuff hooking them to gather, did they forget the safety chains, not check the hitch. Complacency is not an accident in my book.

[LadyRVer]

Sad...glad no one was injured.

Now, for a question I see posted a lot.....riding in the camper? Leaving pets in the camper while driving??????