Travel Trailer Towing Safety Concerns

[dee74]

Let me start by saying I am not the tow weight police or the guy that goes to the CAT scales to set up my truck and trailer, I do know the towing capacity of my truck and what the proper setup should look like. I took my longest trip yet with my tt this week, about 700 miles round trip to the beach and I saw some really dangerous tow setups. My first concern was at a rest area, I saw a lady towing a tt with a more than capable TV but the setup had the hitch head down almost to the ground and scraping the pavement and the front wheels of the truck barely touching the ground. The WDH used bars with chains and she was only on the first link. I offered to take it up a couple of links to try and level it out a little but she thought it was fine. I saw dozens of people with golf carts in the truck bed causing the trailer to be nose down and the truck to sit way up in the front. I also was passed by several people towing at 70+ mph weaving in and out of traffic. I guess I do not have a question here but I did not realize how many people knowingly or unknowingly put themselves and others in danger while towing a tt or fw . I usually frequent one campground all summer and I do not see this type of thing very often.

[gmw_photos]

I suspect the odds of you dying in a car crash that is caused by an out of control RV is fairly slim. Whether the RV is setup correctly of not. If you want to worry about dying in a car crash that involves another vehicle, I'd be more concerned with drunk drivers or 80,000 pound 18 wheelers. In that order.
Lots of different ways to die out there.

I second the idea of taking your rig to the CAT scale. You might be surprised what you learn.

[drsteve]

Most RV salesmen know squat about safe towing setup, and many RVers seem to think the speed rating of a tire is just a number.

[NashvilleMac]

Two main no-nos I see:

1. MAJOR overloading/overtaxing of the tow vehicle. A lot of this, unfortunately, I have to put on the dealers; I've lost count of the number of times I've heard a dealer tell a newbie prospective customer his TV could "handle it, no problem" so long as the DRY weight was under the vehicle's max towing capacity.

2. Speeding, especially with the relatively smaller trailers. I'm reasonably certain most folks don't have a clue the max speed rating for ST tires is 65mph.

[Heymon]

What is interesting to me is that with all the ignorance out there and these apparently crazy towing setups, there are relatively few accidents. Those trailers seen in the ditches could have been set up perfectly well, too.

The main unsafe practice out there is going too fast. Much harder to stop in time from 70 mph than 60 mph regardless of your setup or weight.

[hohenwald48]

It's all I can do to simply take care of myself. I'm sure not gonna' stress over everybody else's setup. If they ask I'll tell. Otherwise I don't consider it any of my business.

[john_bet]

I guess that goes along with the distracted car drivers on roads that run into back of semi's(three killed) or semi's running into back of cars(none killed) and closing down the interstate in one direction completely for 5-6 hours or more. Unsafe action of people are all over every where. The interstate accidents happened on I-65 between Louisville and Indy within days of each other just in the last 2 weeks. You can't fix some folks.

[steve-n-vicki]

I just got back from camping this weekend , I noticed almost all of the 26 to 32 foot TTs were towed by F150s, the medium size 5ers was towed by GM 2500 diesel 4x4s, and the big 5ers was towed by ram duallys with an occasional ford 350 and GM 3500 , most of the hitch setups looked good

[mosseater]

I personally think people cop an attitude about their set up, as opposed to telling them their antenna is up, because there's a lot of mystery surrounding a good set up, and they take offense that YOU think you know something that they should know, but don't.

Everybody can see a set of stairs not folded up or an awning flapping in the breeze, but only a select few seem to know what a safe towing set up looks like. I don't really have a need to approach people about their set up unless they seem to want help. Ignorance is bliss and they are safe, in THEIR mind, because they THINK they're safe, not because they actually are.

[bluie5]

Nvr2loud wrote:
Where did you see that? LOL

Illinois Beach SP.

[CampingN_C_]

snip...Let me start by saying I am not the tow weight police or the guy that goes to the CAT scales to set up my truck and trailer, I do know the towing capacity of my truck and what the proper setup should look like...snip

Funny thing is my truck and trailer were border line dangerous when I had it "looking" correctly. Only when I became "one of those guys that goes to the CAT scales" did I have a correctly/safely set up combo.
Looks can be deceiving.

[BubbaChris]

What's interesting is the vast majority of those folks you saw would thank you profusely if you came up and told them their television antenna is still up.

But say anything about safety concerns about their setup, and it's a different story.

There's a fair chance I'll change out my WDH system later this year. But it's such a tough call as I'm not 100% sure the time and money will get me the results I'm looking for. Do I feel unsafe today?, no. Do I believe it could be better?, yes.

[Nvr2loud]

bluie5 wrote:
What took the cake though was an improperly set up rig filling his fresh water tank from the non-potable water hose at the dump station.

Where did you see that? LOL

[ken56]

I have seen 2 trailers and their tow vehicles in the ditch over the years and there was not much left of the trailer, they disintegrate on impact. I have seem many unsafe towing set-ups and I just distance myself from them and leave a wide margin of safety. You can't save the world, only protect yourself.

[hawkeye-08]

Agree, many are not setup properly... when they could be. Others are not the right stuff (too much trailer, too little tow vehicle, too much stuff, etc).

I know for both trailers we have owned, once the setup was dialed in, it was a pleasure to tow.