"Bourbon&JellyBeans" (bourbonandjellybeans)
10/02/2016 at 07:16 • Filed to: None
3
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"Bourbon&JellyBeans" (bourbonandjellybeans)
10/02/2016 at 07:16 • Filed to: None | 3
| 13 |
Yesterday I was driving home from an eye appointment to pick out a new pair of glasses. We were stopped in traffic in the left lane of a two lane (4 total, two in each direction) road. To my immediate 9 o’clock, a box truck towing an empty two axle trailer was pulling out of a side street and making a right hand turn onto the road. He was turning to go north while I was facing south.
As he made the turn, the truck hit a bump in the road. The bump was enough to detach the trailer from the truck. I frantically laid on my horn to get the attention of the truck driver, but to no avail. He never knew he lost the trailer. He kept driving until he was out of sight. Meanwhile, being a two axle trailer, it was able to stay upright and move freely. Its momentum rolled the trailer right for my left side. I panicked as the trailer slowly rolled toward me. It was like I was watching the accident in slow-mo. I knew it was coming. I’d have a nice hitch shaped hole poked through my quarter panel. Here it comes...3...2...wait what? The trailer stopped maybe two feet short of hitting me. There was a slight camber to the road and the trailer’s momentum had run out.
It then began rolling backwards. At the same time, a poor chump in a Jetta was driving north and slammed on his brakes when he saw the loose trailer. Unfortunately for him, he stopped right in the trailer’s path.
The trailer picked up a little speed and then rolled right into the Jetta’s driver door. The guy in the Jetta looked right at me and pointed in the direction of the truck that had lost the trailer. All I could do was nod to him, it was like he was asking me “did you see that shit?” To which I answered, “Yes. Yes, I saw that shit.” I was just about to get out of traffic to help the guy out but a dude pulled up behind him and quickly hopped out to help, so I drove off. They began taking pictures before anything else, so I didn’t think they’d need any witness testimony or anything like that (a picture of the trailer jabbed into his door is pretty damning evidence). The moral is, here, that people need to MAKE SURE that their trailers are secure before driving off. And, on top of that, make sure that your trailer is still following you from time to time. I can only imagine the sinking feeling that the truck driver felt once he realized that he no longer had a trailer behind him.
AdverseMartyr
> Bourbon&JellyBeans
10/02/2016 at 07:21 |
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...and hook up the safety chains which should keep that from happening.
Rust and Dust - Oppositelock Forever
> AdverseMartyr
10/02/2016 at 07:55 |
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This, one thousand times this. I wouldn’t even think about moving a trailer on a parking lot without chains, much less pulling one down the road.
XJDano
> Bourbon&JellyBeans
10/02/2016 at 08:21 |
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You can’t see the trailer behind that truck, only when making a turn.
I can only imagine the look on the truck drivers face when they got to where they were going and there was no trailer.
Eric @ opposite-lock.com
> AdverseMartyr
10/02/2016 at 08:30 |
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I was wondering about this, too. The dude driving the box van not only failed to properly connect the two, but also failed to attach his safety chain. Someone clearly doesn’t know how you tow trailers.
Honeybunchesofgoats
> Eric @ opposite-lock.com
10/02/2016 at 08:41 |
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Considering it was a Budget truck, I am not even slightly surprised. I’ve rarely seen anyone drive as recklessly as people in rental trucks, and I give them a wide berth.
A few weeks ago, I saw this dipshit in a Budget box truck weaving and taking corners so fast that it twice looked like he was going to roll it.
RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> AdverseMartyr
10/02/2016 at 08:46 |
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People around here drive me nuts as they’ll hook up their trailer, but rarely their trailer lights.....saw our neighbours across the street last night walk out in the dark, hook up their small utility trailer to their Nissan Rogue and then quickly drive off with no light coming from the trailer at all.....at night.
Brilliant 9_9
ttyymmnn
> Bourbon&JellyBeans
10/02/2016 at 09:18 |
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Perhaps you should have given your info to the Jetta driver in case he needs a witness.
Frenchlicker
> Bourbon&JellyBeans
10/02/2016 at 10:02 |
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I’ve never pulled a trailer myself but still know to make absolutely sure everything is locked down and to put the chains in place. Don’t rental trucks normally have stickers so these idiots know this?
Urambo Tauro
> Eric @ opposite-lock.com
10/02/2016 at 10:47 |
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I wouldn’t be surprised if the was using the wrong size ball, too. *facepalm*
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Bourbon&JellyBeans
> ttyymmnn
10/02/2016 at 11:02 |
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The guy who stopped definitely saw the whole thing.
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Bourbon&JellyBeans
> Frenchlicker
10/02/2016 at 15:36 |
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I don’t know how he had it attached, but it seemed like a little bump was all it took. As if the the trailer was just loosely hooked onto the ball.
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Frenchlicker
> Bourbon&JellyBeans
10/02/2016 at 16:40 |
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We’ve had trailers where you latch it down and it seems like it is down properly and the pin can go in. That’s why we always wiggle and lift ours to make sure. However that is why safety chains exist too.
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Eric @ opposite-lock.com
> Urambo Tauro
10/02/2016 at 19:34 |
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If you don’t latch them in right, they can pop off.