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I thought I would take a minute to discuss towing as I sit here on the first Friday evening of 2019. I drive a truck for living and today was a day to remember. By 5:30 this morning I was nearing the summit of the Grapevine. The first sign of trouble was displayed by a cal trans sign reading Accident, north bound lanes closed. Apparently someone died, possibly a guy on bike. While I crawled down the hill in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour I saw the reason for this post. Going uphill south bound I watched a pick up truck slowly come to a stop while towing a small enclosed u-haul trailer. The trailer had come loose from the ball and was dangling in mid air by the safety chain. The trailer was only about 6 to 8 feet long so I doubt it came equipped with brakes. Can you image what would of happened if that chain had broke. Spring will be here soon and 10’s of thousands of part time rv’ers who seldom tow will be on the road heading for there favorite camping spot. For the safety of everyone, please, carefully attach your toys to your tow vehicles and take the time to randomly check them during your travels.
I wish I could have provided pictures but two days ago coming home from Bakersfield in the morning with the wind blowing east to west about 40mph I came upon yet another huge loss to a fellow RV’er. The poor guy had lost control of his near new pick up that was towing a 30′ plus Reflection 5’er. No doubt the incident was written off as a total. Wind, speed, tongue weight, who knows why this happened. Don’t let this happen to you, proper tongue weight and driving at the legal towing speed will help most of you get to your destination in two pieces. When towing in states that allow higher speeds please add more tongue weight. Last time I was in Utah the average truck/trailer combo was running 70 plus. I can only hope they had all the 3.2 beer in the front of there trailers.
There it was, on the way home today, parked on the side of the north bound 15 was a poor guy with his pick up, thankfully still attached to the U-Haul enclosed trailer via the safety chains. I only got a quick look but I bet there was plenty of sheet metal damage to the truck. Funny thing, as I continued south I saw three more enclosed U-Haul trailers being towed north bound, I am sure they all got an eye full when they passed the first guy.
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