Things You Don't Want to See

I was working an 8 hour FD shift today and we were called out to the freeway for a vehicle accident involving injury and entrapment. Not sure of the exact cause, but speed and overcorrection/panic braking may have been a factor. There was another passenger car involved, but it suffered only minor damage and was driven away. The trailer was on the freeway and the other vehicle was entering it. It has not been ascertained if the vehicle entering was at fault or if the driver of the tow vehicle was. Injuries were relatively minor, although we did have to extricate the couple from the truck by cutting out the windshield and they were transported by ambulance to be checked out. Passengers in the other vehicle did not suffer any noticeable injury. In the photos, the red liquid on the ground is transmission fluid, not blood.

The trailer was an older 26 foot model and it appears they had the WDH set up, although the bars broke free, and the anti-sway device locked. Since it is lying facing the oncoming traffic flow, one can surmise that it may have jack-knifed and swung the whole thing around.

Be careful out there.

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Looks about like the one I ran today. Our district is 5 miles wide and almost 26 miles long. A 4 lane US highway runs across one end of the district. The road is almost straight the whole way with only one long gentle curve about halfway, and I'm always amazed at the numbers of accidents we have every year on this stretch. Traffic isn't that heavy, it's a limited access road, and road itself is in great shape. Most of the accidents are one vehicle, and a lot of rollovers. Seems for what ever reason, they drift off the road, try to correct, end up getting sideways, and flip.

Is that a sawzall cut?

And this is why we have a fifth wheel....

porthole said:

Is that a sawzall cut?

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Yes it is.

Thanks for the reminder John, to be careful, we are leaving on a 1200 mile trip at the end of the month and I will keep this in the back of my mind. I always tell new RV'ers to never pull when your hungry, angry or tired !!

Ironically, I managed to flip a truck and TT upside down on I-24 back in Jan '01 on my way to trade it in on a fifthwheel. These photos bring back memories.....lol.

My wifes family had a rig like that, they became victims of wind current exacerbated by 18 wheel truck and careless teen in hot rod car. That is why we have 5th wheel. As a fromer law enforcement officer and training officer, I can tell you that I have seen many accidents, some involving cops and rarely have I seen a serious accident when speed laws and warning signs were being obeyed. My fifth wheel will never travel faster than 65 mph.

JanAndBill said:

Looks about like the one I ran today. Our district is 5 miles wide and almost 26 miles long. A 4 lane US highway runs across one end of the district. The road is almost straight the whole way with only one long gentle curve about halfway, and I'm always amazed at the numbers of accidents we have every year on this stretch. Traffic isn't that heavy, it's a limited access road, and road itself is in great shape. Most of the accidents are one vehicle, and a lot of rollovers. Seems for what ever reason, they drift off the road, try to correct, end up getting sideways, and flip.

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We cover roughly 36 sq. miles, with several miles of I-75 and part of I-475 running through it.

Most roads we have are country two lanes (barely). Which is good as we're all volunteer making us extremely short on people during the day. We run all 1st Responder and Fire Calls.

JanAndBill said:

Most roads we have are country two lanes (barely). Which is good as we're all volunteer making us extremely short on people during the day. We run all 1st Responder and Fire Calls.

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We were an entirely paid on call volunteer dept. until we got a millage passed two years ago to hire some drivers as full time. So, for the duty crew, one is full time and the rest is made up of the paid on calls that have put their availability (8 hour blocks) into the computer system we use to set up the staffing (our Deputy Chief does it). The duty crew handles all of the mundane stuff like alarm calls, CO calls, and minor PI's. If it's an MVA with entrapment, structure fire, or some other "real" deal, an all-call page is sent out and whoever is available responds to their station. We have 3 stations (five engines, one aerial, a heavy rescue, and two USAR trailers). I also respond to county HazMat calls and USAR. So far, it's been working pretty good for us.

This kind of fits this thread and the 2016 thread I started with the Super Duty fire.

One of our guys use to be hooked up with Honda and moving their prototypes around.
He was moving one of the cars in an enclosed trailer. Literally, just outside our district on one of the highways, he had a person pass him. While passing they had a blowout, tagged his trailer and truck and sent him careening off the roadway, rolling.

He was banged up a bit, but nothing broken. The truck and trailer totaled as well as the prototype Honda inside - a million dollar Honda prototype!

In 1977, my grandparents were heading west on I-80 with their Travelall and 27' Airstream. My grandmother was driving at the time, doing their usual 55 MPH (matter of fact, the speed limits were 55 everywhere at that time). An 18-wheeler came blasting by in the other lane at an estimated 80-85 mph.

The initial push, then pull of the truck passing the rig sent my grandparents' rig swaying. Grandfather knew that he could probably pull it out by applying the trailer brakes via the controller, but unfortunately it was mounted all the way over next to the driver's door. My grandmother already had her hands full of steering wheel and wouldn't let go to hit the trailer brake.

They ended up doing a 180, with the trailer sliding off onto the shoulder, then the grass. When the trailer wheels came back to pavement, it flipped the entire rig onto the roof. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. A truck that was following them saw the accident coming, put on his flashers and blocked the road behind them, then called for help on his CB radio before they had even stopped.

Insurance bought them a new rig and paid for them to U-Haul all their stuff home to start over. When my grandfather got the new tow vehicle, it had the brake controller towards the left-hand side of the truck, as well. He tied a string to the lever and tied the other end off to something in the center of the dash. If that were ever to happen again, the passenger could then pull the trailer brake controller lever with the string.

So, one lesson to be learned in such a situation - have the passenger prepared to assist in correcting a bad situation, if needed, by knowing how to apply the trailer brakes.

No pay here, which might account for our turnover. Typically operate with 15 to 25 members, so it's easy to get burned out. Constantly looking for money, with a total yearly operating budget of 45k, which comes from our share of county fire tax, forestry, fund raisers, and the occasional grant. We have two stations with 3 pumpers, 2 brush trucks, and 2 rescue trucks. Medic runs account for the lions share of our runs (our location is such that it might take an ambulance as much as 45 mins to arrive on scene), several MVA's, brush fires,and a few structure fires. Despite being a rural area we are lucky that the last water district upgrade included fire hydrants, so we don't have to worry about supply in most areas. Daytime coverage is extremely slim.

Daytime coverage was also a problem for us. At night we had more people, but with traffic, etc., our response times were bad. Now we can get the first due engine on in under 5 minutes if we're running Code 3.

What was the tow vehicle?

MCT said:

...one lesson to be learned in such a situation - have the passenger prepared to assist in correcting a bad situation, if needed, by knowing how to apply the trailer brakes.

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I just picked up my brand new 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500HD two nights ago . . . and guess where the built-in trailer brake controller is?

On the dash right next to the drivers door . . .






We just had a close call a couple of weeks ago (I started a thread about it...here is a link: https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/47729-Close-call ) ...

Took this shot about 20 minutes before this incident as we prepared to leave the campground:



We were coming down the mountain from Estes Park, Colorado in our 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 with trailer in tow and came around a blind curve with a 200 foot drop off with no guard rails to find the truck and trailer that was previously at least 10 truck/trailer lengths in front of us completely stopped in the road!

It had just started raining, so the road was slick . . . I pumped the brakes several times . . . then put both feet on the brake pedal and pushed as hard as I could!

We slid to a stop about 10 feet from the back of that camper trailer in a cloud of smoke and the eerriiee sound of screeching rubber from my locked up truck tires!

And somehow I managed to keep our whole rig straight!

After discussion over the next couple of days about the incident, we decided to speed up our plan to purchase a new truck (bigger and badder) as we were going to hold off for another year or two.

One of the biggest problems I see today is that people are now pulling trailers with vehicles that are too small for the trailer they are pulling.

Heck . . . the other day I saw an Airstream trailer, which looked to be about a 26-footer being pulled on I-25 through downtown Denver by a Honda minivan!

I mean . . . really? . . . a Honda minivan??????????????????????????????

Who in their right mind would even install the right trailer hitch on a Honda minivan to pull a full-sized travel trailer like that?

And if it was done by a shop . . . they should be shut down!

Sure . . . you can pull!

But stopping?

Well . . . most people don't seem to think about that until it is way too late.

We had our scare . . . we creamed our shorts . . . we bought a new truck that is plenty up to the task!

By the way . . . our Heartland dealership assured us that our truck was more than plenty for the trailer that we purchased.

If we lived on the flatlands still . . . this would probably be a true statement!

But since we live in Colorado . . . well . . . shame on them . . . and shame on me for listening to them !



Footnote: Rest in piece, my old friend (1996 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4) . . . I wish I could keep you, but hopefully I'll find a good new home for you!

You never know what the other idiot(s) will do . . .

One other thought . . .

It seems to be that no matter how much those of us with trailering experience try to keep ourselves safe . . .

We never really know what the other idiots will do!

Earlier this summer, while on our way to Cheyenne Mountain State Park near Colorado Springs, Colorado with our trailer in tow, I had manuvered into the right lane as our exit was coming up (ie.- next).

Two dually trucks with 5th-wheel horse trailers were coming down the entrance ramp as I was just approaching the interchange, and the way the traffic was flowing, it was a perfect lineup for the first truck to pull on the highway in front of me as I left enough room for him to get ahead of me, and the second truck could have easily slipped in behind me.

But, the second truck decided that he wanted to race me to get in front of me as his lane was coming to an end) and sped up and wouldn't just follow the flow of the traffic!

I had cars next to me in the left lane . . . so nowhere to go . . . so I finally had to swerve a little to let the people know in the middle lane that I NEEDED to get over . . . and this jerk just pushed me out of the way and into the middle lane of the highway so he could continue on!

When he could have easily just have continued at his same speed and moved in behind me as I would have turned off momentarily and he would have been in the same traffic position anyway.

Needless to say, I missed my exit and had to turn around a come back!

Here is another close call:

A few years ago while traveling with our old Coachman 24-foot travel behind this same truck (1996 Dodge Ram 1500), as I was going through downtown Fort Lupton, Colorado on Hwy 52, I had the green light at the main intersection in town . . .

I was already into the intersection when some @$$ decided to make a right turn in front of me!

To this day I still don't know how I stopped before I creamed this guy's car!

I followed this guy out of town and I'm pretty sure he'd been drinking heavily, judging by the way he was driving.

I've got several more horror stories (ie.- close calls), but maybe we need to start a new thread for them!

Yep, i had some cretin try to pass me on the entrance ramp not too long ago (not hauling). When i didn't let him, he gave me a salute and tried to play with me when we both were on the freeway. So I stayed with him and got off when he did. Suddenly, he sped off like his *** was in fire. Funny, it was the exit I wanted too.
We don't want to talk about what idiots do when I'm driving a big fire truck with lights flashing and siren screaming. Some serious gene pool filter malfunctions there.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MCT said:

In 1977, my grandparents were heading west on I-80 with their Travelall and 27' Airstream. My grandmother was driving at the time, doing their usual 55 MPH (matter of fact, the speed limits were 55 everywhere at that time). An 18-wheeler came blasting by in the other lane at an estimated 80-85 mph.

The initial push, then pull of the truck passing the rig sent my grandparents' rig swaying. Grandfather knew that he could probably pull it out by applying the trailer brakes via the controller, but unfortunately it was mounted all the way over next to the driver's door. My grandmother already had her hands full of steering wheel and wouldn't let go to hit the trailer brake.

They ended up doing a 180, with the trailer sliding off onto the shoulder, then the grass. When the trailer wheels came back to pavement, it flipped the entire rig onto the roof. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. A truck that was following them saw the accident coming, put on his flashers and blocked the road behind them, then called for help on his CB radio before they had even stopped.

Insurance bought them a new rig and paid for them to U-Haul all their stuff home to start over. When my grandfather got the new tow vehicle, it had the brake controller towards the left-hand side of the truck, as well. He tied a string to the lever and tied the other end off to something in the center of the dash. If that were ever to happen again, the passenger could then pull the trailer brake controller lever with the string.

So, one lesson to be learned in such a situation - have the passenger prepared to assist in correcting a bad situation, if needed, by knowing how to apply the trailer brakes.

Click to expand...

I am glad they are OK.

We should also remember that that the safest response is not always to it the brakes. In this case, hitting the accelerator would have helped keep everything lined up and stabile. It acts something like hitting the trailer brakes. Admittedly, it still may have ended up the same.

Had a close call this afternoon, coming down I-70 towards Denver. It was raining pretty good, lots of spray all around. A couple of the lanes got overloaded with water and I could see small waves being splashed up as vehicles hit the standing water. There were also a lot of intermittent brake lights. I was easing off when suddenly the Buick LeSabre in front of me hit the brakes hard due to water in lane. Fortunately, they didn't spin or hydroplane, but I was on my brakes hard, as well. Finally passed the Buick on the next uphill - older white-haired lady had a death grip on the wheel and was now traveling about 15 mph slower than everyone else.