Trailer Safety Reminder

[3inSlugger]

Last night, as the wife and I were headed back to Stillwater, we witnessed what could have been a bad bad traffic accident. Cresting the final hill on 177 going north before Stillwater, there was an RV pulling a horse trailer. We were around 300 yards behind them when the trailer started swaying back and forth violently. The trailer slipped the hitch and rolled into the southbound (oncoming) lane of traffic. Fortunately, there was no one in that lane at the time. The trailer rolled until it hit the curb, at which point it flipped once or twice and came to a rest upright in a ditch.

The RV turned around, and, we, not knowing if there was a car or people involved, did also. As soon as the RV came to a stop, a woman ran towards the trailer, which contained her family's two horses. We jumped out of our car and followed her.

The horses were tied up inside the trailer and one came out through the top. Since it was still bridled it was hanging by its neck from the side of the trailer. The lady was screaming for a knife. I had recently taken the KA-bar out of the car so I ran into her RV trying to find a knife. While I was in there, an older gentleman came up with a knife and helped cut the horse down. Well sadly, either the fall or the accident broke the horse's neck and it died. However the other horse, which was still tied up in the trailer the whole time, seemed dazed but OK (to my untrained eye anyway).

Well, it turns out, the safety chains were attached to the RV, but not the trailer (although trailer lights were ON). The hitch on the trailer or the RV wasn't even messed up, which makes me wonder if it was even locked down.

The moral of this story is don't "fake" your safety chains and make sure your hitch is secure.
Sadly, a beloved family animal died last night, but if there had been any southbound vehicles at that time there could have been dead people.
Just a reminder...

 

[Perplexed]

Tragic, and like you said, it could have been a LOT worse. But I don't understand; the safety chains were attached to the RV but not the trailer? You mean the chains weren't permanently attached to the trailer? That's a first for me, though I haven't seen many trailers up close.

 

[WTJ]

Tragic, and like you said, it could have been a LOT worse. But I don't understand; the safety chains were attached to the RV but not the trailer? You mean the chains weren't permanently attached to the trailer? That's a first for me, though I haven't seen many trailers up close.

That sounds strange to me also.

 

[okiebryan]

The trailer swaying back and forth indicates that it was improperly loaded. There would have been too much weight on the back of the trailer. This causes a TON of trailer accidents, and they often wind up jackknifing the tow vehicle rather than making the hitch come off. Being in the wrecker industry, I may have seen this a time or twenty.

 

[3inSlugger]

Tragic, and like you said, it could have been a LOT worse. But I don't understand; the safety chains were attached to the RV but not the trailer? You mean the chains weren't permanently attached to the trailer? That's a first for me, though I haven't seen many trailers up close.

I didn't see that the trailer, which she had just bought, had any place (eyes) for hooks or any weld marks where the chain had been welded to the hitch. Nor did the safety chain (that were on the RV still) have any hooks on the trailer end.
She also said the guy she bought the trailer from hooked it up for her. Although, I would still think it her ultimate responsibility to make sure her trailer is properly secured.

 

[Electrician Mike]

Was this a bumper pull trailer? If so, the chains should have been welded to the trailer. The swaying back and forth could have been after it came unhitched and was being drug by the chains before they separated from the trailer. I have seen similar things happen when someone uses a 2" ball to pull a 2 5/16 trailer. Did the wheels on the trailer lock up? Newer trailers have a emergency breakaway that locks up the brakes, but they are bad about jack knifing the truck pulling it when they do.

 

[okiebryan]

Was this a bumper pull trailer? If so, the chains should have been welded to the trailer. The swaying back and forth could have been after it came unhitched and was being drug by the chains before they separated from the trailer. I have seen similar things happen when someone uses a 2" ball to pull a 2 5/16 trailer. Did the wheels on the trailer lock up? Newer trailers have a emergency breakaway that locks up the brakes, but they are bad about jack knifing the truck pulling it when they do.

Good point. I forgot about the undersized ball causing it to come unhitched. This is less common, but does happen.

 

[3inSlugger]

Was this a bumper pull trailer? If so, the chains should have been welded to the trailer. The swaying back and forth could have been after it came unhitched and was being drug by the chains before they separated from the trailer. I have seen similar things happen when someone uses a 2" ball to pull a 2 5/16 trailer. Did the wheels on the trailer lock up? Newer trailers have a emergency breakaway that locks up the brakes, but they are bad about jack knifing the truck pulling it when they do.

It was a bumper pull but the safety chains were NOT welded to the trailer from what I saw. I'm also pretty sure the trailer was swaying while it was attached to the RV. Nor did I see the remnants of the breakaway line. Wasn't close enough to the trailer to tell if the brakes were locked up.

The ball size difference could have been true though. The RV hitch and the trailer hitch looked spotless like they didn't put up any resistance.

 

[okiebryan]

I've seen two horse trailers without brakes before. Also the breakaway switch only came on newer trailers. There are still quite a few around without them.

Edited to add: although I personally think that two horses and a trailer is entirely too much weight for a trailer with no brakes.

 

[DeerAssassin]

Back a few years ago I was hauling a small car behind my F150. I loaded the car backwards thinking it would be easier to unload that way. Well, about a mile down the road at 65mph the trailer started swaying violently and before I could get it under control it spun my truck around 360 degrees and off the side of the road. I must have had it secured damn good because the car never moved an inch. No damage to truck or trailer either. Just some brown stained underwear. I limped to an empty lot up the road and loaded it correctly, didn't have a single problem out of it the rest of the way. I was pulling it from the bumper and I was really surprised it didn't pull it right off the truck.