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Originally Posted by r8ingbull
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I have identified actions that to me (in my opinion) are the most likely
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You use the term "safety margins". Please explain what these are? Are you saying a vehicle at 50% of capacity is somehow inherently safer than a vehicle at 60% of capacity? If so, I have a hard time following that logic, since the vast majority of accidents are not caused by capacity issues at all.
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"Most Likely" has no value in the real world. My 1998 Mazda Protégé was destroyed in the late summer of 2000 when an 'inattentive driver' crossed the double yellow line into me. Plenty of witnesses. Dry pavement 7:20AM. Saw it coming. All the cutting hard right + braking made no difference.
Margin: "an amount by which a thing is won or falls short". So, yes, only running at 50% of maximum is inherently safer than running at 60%. But you are choosing to run at 90%. And there are plenty of cases of accidents where overloading was a major contributing factor:
https://www.justia.com/injury/motor-...loaded-trucks/
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I deal with all sorts of crazy's on the road 2+hours per day. Alone, radio off.
When we head out with the trailer, the same crazy's are on the road. Now I've got SWMBO and the fur baby. Plus 5,0000lbs of portable house. I WILL be getting to our destination in ONE PIECE. That means:
- Driving slower
- Watching further ahead
- Responding to SWMBO when she feels we are approaching traffic too quickly
- Stopping when driving conditions 'get ugly'
- Not even going near weight limits
- Checking the hitch, tires and wheel bearings at every stop.
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I used to tow my 2,200lbs trailer with a Jaguar XJ-6L. Never had an accident. Only once did I have a 3 hour delay when I let a wheel bearing fail. The car's soft, compliant suspension that made that car a pleasure to drive allowed every gust of wind or pressure wave from passing truck to be transmitted into the body of the car. The twitching was quite unnerving.
NEVER AGAIN will I hitch-up a travel trailer to a car/minivan/crossover.
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I've done some pretty sketchy 'hauling a prize home' events. One shot and white knuckles all the way.
Routine trailering... No such thing. It's always a special event. Those that trailer for a living have special licenses AND are subject to inspection!
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I can't tell you what to do. I'm too much of a Libertarian to want to try. But out of respect for other users of the highway, carefully consider respecting
their desire to simply get from point A to point B without even noticing your nearly overloaded rig.