AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Was traveling on the 4 lane divided bypass highway near home and saw brake lights coming on out ahead. It first looked like 2 trucks had come together and stopped in the median, turned out to be a fairly late model Ford Super Duty truck pulling a solid looking flatbed trailer with a 50s truck on board. The Ford was facing the way it came with the trailer up against the bed, all off the road in the median ditch. The S-shaped skid marks in my lanes told the story. It started swaying, made 3 or 4 wider ever wider sways heading toward the right shoulder then it went past no return and jack knifed to the driver side and skidded across both westbound lanes into the median. Slightly downhill gentle curve to the left, speed limit 65. Must have just happened out of sight, the driver was out and a car had stopped and that driver was just running across. The median here is 30-40 feet wide with no barrier and a V profile for drainage. Couldn't see any damage but hard to imagine there wasn't any to the tow vehicle being pushed into the ditch with the bedside at least against the trailer frame. Good news was the old truck staying on the trailer. Came back past 2.5 hours later and it was gone without tearing the area up. Bet the driver needed to change his undies.
Got me thinking about the recommended procedure if a trailer starts swaying. Off the gas and apply some trailer brake (and hope it straightens out) as you slow down.
Got me thinking about the recommended procedure if a trailer starts swaying. Off the gas and apply some trailer brake (and hope it straightens out) as you slow down.