Somebody's trailer came off on I15 today...

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utah
So heading northbound, in left lane, i notice a small green metal trailer rolling down the freeway 2 lanes to my right. It came unhooked from some SUV. What a crazy experience watching it flail about and flip over. Somehow, the empty trailer pulls itself over and doesn't kill anyone. They should really come up with some sort of locking pin and safety chain system to keep these things on!
 
They should really come up with some sort of locking pin and safety chain system to keep these things on!
What good would that do? It would still depend upon each driver actually using it, and that just ain’t gonna happen 100% of the time.
 
Yikes, I thought safety chains were mandatory? People have been killed by trailers that have disconnected from the hitch.
 
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Yikes, I thought safety chains were mandatory? People have been killed by trailers that have disconnected from the hitch.
Most definitely. Luckily it didn't even cause a crash as near as i could tell. Trailer ended up with tires down and at least partially onto the shoulder. I told my brother "Look at that trailer, its gonna kill someone!" (not a direct quote, there was profanity.)
 
Yikes, I thought safety chains were mandatory? People have been killed by trailers that have disconnected from the hit
Safety chains are mandatory-as are electric trailer brakes after a certain weight. If my travel trailer somehow becomes disconnected-and the chains break-there is a separate cable (locked on to the tow vehicle) that pulls a pin out of the switch, which uses the electricity in the battery (on the trailer) to LOCK THE BRAKES. As with other things-a runaway trailer has a fault in the system somewhere-or owner error.
 
So heading northbound, in left lane, i notice a small green metal trailer rolling down the freeway 2 lanes to my right. It came unhooked from some SUV. What a crazy experience watching it flail about and flip over. Somehow, the empty trailer pulls itself over and doesn't kill anyone. They should really come up with some sort of locking pin and safety chain system to keep these things on!
Yikes! I saw a loose tire rolling across three lanes on I-95, just north off Baltimore, in heavy traffic. Every one was tailgating and doing about 75 mph. I cant imagine the accident this would have caused if someone hit it.
 
Yikes! I saw a loose tire rolling across three lanes on I-95, just north off Baltimore, in heavy traffic. Every one was tailgating and doing about 75 mph. I cant imagine the accident this would have caused if someone hit it.
A driver near my work died last year because of this last year. It hopped the jersey wall on I-95 and went right thru a windshield.

I hate trailers. I towed one for years when I had a landscaping business. They are heavy and really affect how cars handle and brake. Yet you see so many F150/1500 drivers zipping along the highway with 5k or 10k trailers behind them and they act like there is nothing back there.
 
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I ALWAYS feel under the coupler, to make sure the ball is in the coupler. That way i know the coupler is not sitting on top of the ball.
 
I was on my way to buy safety chains and install them on my friends utility trailer I borrowed as there were none on it. Stopped to turn left but there was a small bump in road right before it. Felt a light slam into back of my truck, got out cursing that somebody hit me. Nope, trailer was 5 feet back, lock was in coupling still closed, thought it wasn't adjusted and slipped off ball. Nope, nut unscrewed from the ball shank on draw bar. Ball was still in coupling but no nut/lock washer to be found. I know it was torqued prior I had used same setup many times, no clue how it happened, towed other stuff for decades prior. I don't remember if somebody had borrowed it or not. New drawbar's and ball now get Locktite, drilled roll pin, and paint marked. I recheck that mark each time I install and each time I stop for anything.

I was lucky! It was a 30 mph road, I was in a turning lane and stopping, only damage was a straight slice punch in plastic bumper cover. Next day was 1500 lbs and highway speeds. Could have been much worse.
 
Many years ago my brother and I were camping with the family boat. The last day of our stay I asked him to hitch the trailer to the car and bring the boat around to the ramp to load it. Big mistake. He didn’t open the coupler or attach the safety chains. The trailer decoupled at the top of the ramp, careened down the ramp, turned left between between two groups of people and went into the lake. I am eternally thankful those people were not hit. It was a big tandem axle trailer too. I also knew a contractor foreman who told me how a laborer had “hitched” one of the company’s concrete pumps incorrectly and it came off and killed two people. Moral of the story is don’t trust anyone to hitch your trailer correctly, do it yourself.
 
We we were in a tour bus as a large equipment trailer filled with music gear came off in a strip mall. As the bus slowed from 25, the trailer passed us by on the right side. Someone remarked that we were being passed by a trailer. Someone else remarked it looked like ours. Sucker speared a parked Jetta, picked it up and slammed it into the car next to it. Our driver was a rock solid guy, by the book. We found that the smaller metal bits in the locking mechanism had come loose and vibrated out. We were in Germany and the hitch mechanism was very different from those here.
 
Just last month my wife was driving me to have Cataract surgery in a town about 50 miles away. We were in her Chevy Spark. As she moved into the left lane to pass a semi, one of the trucks tires had a blowout.
We were about 50 to 75 feet behind the truck. I saw a large chunk of the tire flying directly toward the windshield on my side of the car. I didn't have time to even duck. We were lucky because most of the impact was on the pillar and not directly on the windshield. If it didn't hit the pillar I think I wouldn't be here typing this today
The truck driver did not even slow down.
 
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