nasty. i can recall three insidents where a trailor has come off. one where a mates forrestry van was hit by one, another outside my work where a builder had just loaded up his large trailor with building suplies came off and plowed into a pile of parked cars (the safty latch had been tied up with twine) and another where a friend of a freind was struck by a farmers trailor and died when the botched hitch became detatched. the farmer had welded on the tow ball for which he ended up doing 2 years jail time.
There are usually heavy penalties for an 'insecure load' as that will be classed. It could easily have killed someone. That car driver needs to be losing his licence for a spell I think.
I regularly tow a boat behind my Landie, including the trailer and loaded with diving and camping gear it's nudging 3tns. I'm paranoid about it coming off the towbar and always use a breakaway cable that 'should' activate the brakes on both trailer axles before it breaks. However on a lot of boat trailers, especially those being towed by big 4x4s with brakes that can cope with the extra weight, the brakes are adjusted shall we say a little slack, because otherwise they bind after being dunked in salt water all the time. I dread to think what damage my boat and trailer would do to a bike or car, let alone the damage to the boat. The argument for a strong safety chain that keeps the trailer attached to the back of the car if it comes off is a strong one, but personally I'd rather not have 3tns of trailer flapping about behind the car whilst I try to slow down and it going under the back of my car, lifting it and flipping it. Nasher.
The breakaway cable is a legal requirement I believe on a braked trailer. That's any trailer over 750Kgs. But Caravans are so light some don't reach that weight. Nose weight when loading the trailer is also a factor, and can be very badly out. Nasher
Thought some form of restraint was mandatory on braked and un-braked trailers/caravans. My bike trailer has a 4mm, welded link chain that goes over the tow bar. Andy
IMO, the rider was too close to the vehicle in front and too close to the white line. Many years before I was introduced to the IAM, I went on a high performance (car) driver training course (BMW E36 M3) and was taught to Move Away from Danger (MAD). Made sense then and still makes sense today, especially if you are on a bike. Andy
I'm not certain, but I think the opposite is true for a braked trailer, in that the breakaway cable should apply the brakes then snap so there is not a secure connection. It's thought to be more dangerous as the car is then also controlled by the out of control trailer. By nature the drawbar drops down, and as the car brakes the drawbar goes under the back of the car and lifts it up spinning it and turning it over. Would like to be proved wrong though. Think I need to do some googling to catch up on the latest. Nasher.
No you could be right, it makes sense. I’ve never driven with a braked trailer so don’t know if it’s a tether or failsafe. Andy
Found this: It is a legal requirement for a breakaway cable to be correctly fitted to all caravans with a maximum technically permissible laden mass (MTPLM) of between 750kg and 3500kg. This applies to all caravans, trailers and similar structures which were manufactured after 1982. Unbraked trailers under 750kgs don't need one. Now looking at chains
And found this If your trailer is braked you must by law fit a breakaway cable. This is a device that will apply the brakes of the trailer if the towhitch fails in some way, and then the cable will also detach and the trailer will come to a halt on it's own. If your trailer is unbraked and the trailer was manufactured after 1997 then you must have a secondary coupling fitted. In the event of the towhitch failing then the secondary coupling will keep the trailer attached to the car while you come to a halt safely. This is to prevent your loose trailer ricocheting out of control off round a roundabout or crossroads.
Jeez. Weather or not the GS rider was too close to anything he has the right to remain safe on his side of the road. I thought there should be some type of cable that goes around the hitch to stop this sort happening? I hate caravans, they should only be allowed out between midnight and 3 am.
For this incident IMO, other opinions may vary from people to people. If the rider had have been further back and over he’d have been head on to the caravan, his positioning may well have not been regulation but on this occasion it probably saved him from injuries possibly life changing. Hopefully the driver was prosecuted.
No "I think" about it. That could have been far, far worse and contrary to what has been said here, IMO the GS rider was in a decent position in terms of maintaining visibility and seeing ahead. What has clearly failed, is the anticipation and moving slightly to the N/S to improve clearance from the caravan and the additional turbulence. The driver of the car towing the caravan, should definitely lose their licence and receive a heft fine for such dangerous, entirely avoidable ignorance.
