A Sad Story

My wife and I were returning from the outer banks on the West Virginia toll road last week.  We were cruising about 60MPH when this Dodge Diesel passed us pulling a 31 ft TT.  This guy was doing at least 80MPH.  I remarked to my wife that that was a really nice rig, but he was going too fast pulling a TT.

About 30 minutes later, we came upon his accident.  As most of you know, in mountainous terrain, you can get some serious cross winds.  Well, thats exactly what happened, and it put the rig out of control and needless to say, both the tow vehicle and TT left the road and ended up as a pile of junk with debris scattered all over the place.

Judging from the number of emergency vehicles, there were probably some pretty serious injuries if not not death from this terrible accident.

It seems I see more and more of this as tow vehicles become more powerful and no thought is given to the 10,000 pound vehicle behind them.  I had to slow down to 35-45MPH through this cross wind area, and it was still a dicey situation.

I don't know if there is a recommended speed limit for Travel Trailers, but it cannot be very safe above the 60-65MPH range.......I would be interested to know what the average towing speed is for the users of this forum.

We travel in a 38' motorhome and tow a small pickup and keep our speed to 60mph or less.  In heavy winds, we will slow down until the handling is comfortable.  With the high profile of RVs, strong crosswinds can be deadly, as you've witnessed.

Rarely do I get to 65mphWith 37' MH with a tag axle which is very very stable.  Try to hold it at 62mph  depending of the conditions.  It might be 55 to 45 accordingly.  I Bet the 80mpher wishes he would have been doing 35.

Many, many years ago my father used to say that when things like this happened it was God's way of keeping stupid people from procreating.
I was a police officer for 27 years and prior to getting our MH we had an 11' truck camper on a 1 ton crewcab dually truck and we towed an 18' fiberglas inboard/outboard boat. The combined weight was probably similar to what I have with my MH now. Over the years I've seen many people do similar dumb things, and sometimes pay for it with their lives.


Woody

Some folks think they can't get into trouble.  Lucky he didn't loose it near you and get your involved.

swampfox said:

My wife and I were returning from the outer banks on the West Virginia toll road last week.  We were cruising about 60MPH when this Dodge Diesel passed us pulling a 31 ft TT.  This guy was doing at least 80MPH.  I remarked to my wife that that was a really nice rig, but he was going too fast pulling a TT.

About 30 minutes later, we came upon his accident.  As most of you know, in mountainous terrain, you can get some serious cross winds.  Well, thats exactly what happened, and it put the rig out of control and needless to say, both the tow vehicle and TT left the road and ended up as a pile of junk with debris scattered all over the place.

Judging from the number of emergency vehicles, there were probably some pretty serious injuries if not not death from this terrible accident.

It seems I see more and more of this as tow vehicles become more powerful and no thought is given to the 10,000 pound vehicle behind them.  I had to slow down to 35-45MPH through this cross wind area, and it was still a dicey situation.

Click to expand...

Yeah.  The higher the speed, the greater the lift on a vehicle.   That is why race cars have spoilers -- to break that lift.    Get hit with a crossing wind and that light footed trailer can get pushed around by the lateral force and go into uncontrolled yawing, and then that is all she wrote.   Wind gusts are especially bad since the driver has not been compensating the lateral force with his steering.  Dips, arroyos, canyons, and even passing semis and buses can create appearant gusting by hitting you with a shock wave, a lee, then a resumption of the cross wind.

Slow down in cross winds.  If you find that you have to slow to 35mph, then slow to 35 mph.  Sometimes it is even better to look for a campsite right now.

I don't know if there is a recommended speed limit for Travel Trailers, but it cannot be very safe above the 60-65MPH range.......I would be interested to know what the average towing speed is for the users of this forum.

Click to expand...

The State of California recommends 55 mph as the vehicle towing speed limit and passes out speeding tickets to those who fail to take the recommendation.   ;D

Years ago I traded a beautiful solid red 16' Silverline outboard tri-hull with white interior in to the dealer I bought it from for an 18' Silverline IO (worst decision I ever made I believe). The dealer had me bring my boat before my new one was ready because he had a ready buyer for mine. The guy was waiting at the dealership when I got there and after they took it into the shop and started it up and checked it out he hooked it up to his truck and took off with it.

When I got home there was a phone call from the dealer. Seems that they had forgotten to reattach the rear hold downs and the guy was traveling over 80 mph on the Interstate when the boat lifted up off of the trailer and went end over end down the highway. I guess a boat can plane on air same as on the water.

Thankfully no one was hurt and he did have insurance on it before he left the dealer. I was sad for a long time over the loss of that boat.


Woody

Most states have speed limits for trucks or vehicles towing a trailer, includes a car with a 10' (or smaller) untility trailer as well as semi trucks.  Many (Far too many) folks not only think that speed limits are meant to be  broken, but get upset if they are behind you and you obey them..

Well... You have seen what happens to these jerks who think it's ok to drive 90 in a 55 zone. 

I truly do not like to see someone hurt or killed in a traffic accident, plus I know how expensive such incidents are from a surviving citizen point of view (I once (1983) wrote a post titled "A cool million"  The cost, then, of a freeway fatality, think about that in today's dollars and then go change your underware)  (price based on the 1982 cost as calculated by the Michigan State Police)

But when some idiot going 90mph hits the wall... Well, he asked for it, he worked for it, He had it coming and I say he deserves it.

I just hope nobody ELSE got hurt.

That is one interesting piece of road swampfox.  A few years ago I was traveling the other way with #2 son's car on a u-haul trailer and headed home to Elizabeth City.  Dang hitch ball snapped off when we hit a bad crosswind.  Luckily I wasn't driving fast and luckily the safety chains held but it was surely exciting for a few seconds.

I think if I'd been speeding, my truck would have been flipped over.

I too have driven that road and ran into crosswinds and luckily traveling at a slow rate of speed or it could have been curtains. 

swampfox said:

I would be interested to know what the average towing speed is for the users of this forum.

Click to expand...

Our maximum is 65 mph and that's with little or no headwind or crosswind.  If need be, we slow down.  I'd rather take a little longer and arrive a lot safer.

Sam usually drives around 60 - 62 MPH.  I do the sam when I drive which isn't often.

It all depends upon the conditions.  On an open interstate with little traffic and no wind, I tow the fifth wheel between 65-70.  On city freeways, I back down to 50-55 since people seem to enjoy filling every square inch in front of me every time I leave a nice safe gap between me and the vehicle in front of me.  I guess the folks who like to dart in front of trucks towing trailers don't realize how long it can take to get one stopped.  I just let the situation dictate the speed and err on the side of caution.  I'd rather arrive an hour later than risk injuring us or destroying our equipment.

Some other considerations on how fast to tow....How new are your tires?  Have you repacked the wheel bearings recently?  How close is your trailer's weight to the maximum limit of the truck?  Are you on a level surface or a grade?  And finally....every trailer handles differently....some are just more stable than others by nature....if the trailer gives even the slightest hint of misbehaving, slow down.

I've towed both a bumper pull and a fifth wheel, and the fiver just feels rock solid compared to the TT.  If I was pulling a conventional trailer, I would probably take it 10 MPH slower.

I have a 36 foot monaco diesel. I often cruise at 80mph when the weather is clear and the wind is minimal. Is this terribly dangerous? I feel very comfortable and the monaco seems to like that speed very much. What are the stipulations to going 80mph in a MH? thanks.

Brian

The danger is going fast is not the speed, but the reaction time and stopping distance in an emergency.  The only good part of your going 80MPH in a motorhome is you won't be around us for very long.  And I don't know of any highways in the US that have an 80MPH speed limit.

I hit 80MPH once... Down hill with a tail wind (Short hill) on a nearly empty road.  Driver information display complained I was exceeding vehicle maximum speed limit.

We don't have big rig.  We have an Chev. Express extended van conversion.  When we first started making MANY trips from Michigan to Georgia to our daughter in grad school I got so I would drive 75 to 80 mph in the van.  Get the distance covered.  After awhile I slowly figured out that setting the cruise control at 60 to 65 mph got us there almost as fast, we were more relaxed, we were MUCH MORE alert, and overall much safer.  The roads that jarred our bodies before were much smoother, etc.  My eyes were less red and my hands less cramped. 

We all have two fixed points in our lives.  Birth and death.  The real question is what do you with the time in between.  I have now concluded that all 80 mph does for a person is move the two points closer together if not for the person themself it can be for someone driving near them.  Slow down and smell the flowers and the fresh air.  Don't crowd the end point.

80 MPH!!!!! WOW

In Germany speed of motorhomes > 7700 lbs is limited to 50 mph. Drove once with wind coming from the left side with about 30-35 mph. Nice feeling. I slow down to a comfortable speed - I'm not Richard Kimble....

Mike (ex-f-221) said:

In Germany speed of motorhomes > 7700 lbs is limited to 50 mph. Drove once with wind coming from the left side with about 30-35 mph. Nice feeling. I slow down to a comfortable speed - I'm not Richard Kimble....

Click to expand...

In the Los Angeles area there are two interstates that are infamous for wind:  I-15 at Cajon Pass and I-10 at the nearby Banning Pass.  Cajon pass gets 50 knot breezes during a Santa Ana condition (high pressure over the deserts with NE winds).  That routinely blows over semi-trailers.  House trailers do not stand the chance of a snowball in hell.  Banning Pass is not quite so drastic but it routinely gets SW or NE winds in the vicinity of 25-30 mph and has the wind farms to prove it.  Knock downs are rarer there but a trailer is well advise to do the pass at 50 mph if the windmills are churning away.  For that matter it would so behove any slab sided vehicle to do so, you do not have to be rolled for a sudden yaw to get you int trouble.