"Just Say No" to towing in snow.

[Rustic Eagle]

Wife (with daughter) following her husband towing a TH.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCYeV9RjyPI

Bob

[stefanarroyo]

Wow, that could have been so much worse

[Midnightmoon]

Have to admit that hearing that little girl got to me a bit........

[poohbear]

Surely speed had nothing to do with that

[Marine71-76]

Oh my...glad everyone is safe.

[Brownie]

Good thing he slid to the left side. Looks like quite a drop-off if he'd slid to the right side!!!

[THE MEEKER]

I am glad nobody was hurt.

However, for him to choose to drive in those conditions was stupid.

Ice covered roadway, going down a steep grade, going too fast. As I watched the video, his front tires did turn toward the curve, but the momentum of speed and weight made him go straight off the road. I also noticed he seemed to be pumping his brakes as his tail lights were going on/off. That was a mistake as he should have had his ABS/traction control slow him down. He was in trouble 1/2 mile before the accident.

[craigav]

I am glad no one was hurt as well, one tip to share is to lightly hit your trailer brakes on the brake controller switch instead of using the regular brakes until things straighten back out (not so much that you lock the trailer brakes up but as much as you can w/o locking them up), then continue slowing down after you regain control.

One other thought is that everyone should check their brake controller settings often, as they could have been set way too light to start with, especially for the conditions.

[TxLoser]

That was scary. Worst part for me was when the little girl panicked.

On the brake controller, what’s worse.... too much gain and the trailer locks up before the truck, or too little. I almost feel like too much gain would break friction and then you’re toast.

[kwalsh]

i think he was in trouble long before he got to the turn. i am not sure if he was pumping brakes or if that was they way the camera was picking up the led lights, i think that he should have pulled off much sooner but maybe there was no place to pull off safely but i think he was to fast long before he got to the hill

glad they are all ok

[jfk69]

Agree with above comments. When I watched, my first thought was “too fast”. And then it went from bad to worse. He’s very lucky that semi wasn’t closer, and kudos to that driver for seeing what was going to happen and getting his rig stopped.

[craigav]

Originally Posted by TxLoser

That was scary. Worst part for me was when the little girl panicked.

On the brake controller, what’s worse.... too much gain and the trailer locks up before the truck, or too little. I almost feel like too much gain would break friction and then you’re toast.

Good point, too much or too little is not where you want to be with the brake gain, ideally you would want the trailer brakes to engage a little before the the tow vehicle brakes especially in slippery conditions, but not so much gain the trailer wheels lock up. In the situation in the video, I would have tried manually increasing the trailer brakes to the point just before locking them and if they locked then back off immediately, but maintain braking just below the point of locking... which of course may not be possible on ice. (best bet is to not tow in icy conditions imo)... ~CA

[Camper_bob]

He posted a follow-up in early January explaining what happened. The park they were staying in forced them out, so they had little choice but to travel that day. The weather report did not indicate the severity of the situation. Apparently, shortly before the accident, the roads were dry, weather clear. The snow came on VERY quickly and he was attempting to slow down, but couldn't get slow enough fast enough. Yes, he was incrementally applying brakes trying to slow down without losing control, and shortly before it happened, he actually shifted into 4-hi in hopes that would help. At the time he lost control, he was going 33 mph. He also mentioned that he had not encountered a safe place to pull over yet.

I'm certainly glad no one was hurt, and I agree with the others who mentioned how chilling the daughter's reaction was. I could totally see my own son reacting the same way.

Personally, I get all that, but still think he was going too fast. I'm a very conservative driver, especially when towing, and especially when pulling a pass like that, and even more especially in inclement weather. I would have immediately made great efforts to get a lot slower than he was going at the first sign of snow. That was 10 miles or so previous to his loss of control. Even with all of that, it's entirely possible he could have lost control there anyway with the ice on the curve and the down-hill grade, so slow speed may not have prevented his loss of control anyway.

Again, super glad no one was hurt, and I will remember that little girl's reaction and this video if I'm ever in a similar situation.

[Scott91370]

I towed from Paonia, CO to Ft. Worth, Texas in that storm and it was SLOW going. The drive from Paonia to Amarillo is normally 7 hours and it took me almost 15.

I had one incident and thankfully I was only doing 20mph. Going through one of the many small towns when the back of the truck decided it wanted to go left out of the blue. A little counter steer and I was slung the other way and the truck was almost perpendicular to the road. I was able to keep calm, squeezed the trailer brake a little and it straightened out. I should have stopped the 18 wheeler that was behind me to see if he had a dash cam!

I'm glad he was ok but dang, what a pant stainer!!!

[stefanarroyo]

Even that 18 wheeler that was pulled over thought the conditions were too bad to carry on. Lucky he did hit that head on

[Sundancer330]

As they say can't fix stupid, he was driving way to fast for the conditions. We pull an inclosed 4 place snowmobile trailer almost every weekend and when the weather goes to hell you slow way down so this doesn't happen.

[deepsea5]

Originally Posted by Sundancer330

As they say can't fix stupid, he was driving way to fast for the conditions. We pull an inclosed 4 place snowmobile trailer almost every weekend and when the weather goes to hell you slow way down so this doesn't happen.

The 2-place single axle snowmobile trailers seem to be even more treacherous on ice/snow than the 4-place double axle snowmobile trailers.
Amen to slowing down!
If I snowmobiled only in one place, I'd consider finding a way to (securely) leave the sleds at that destination. Would take a lot of stress off the commute.

[alwalk63]

Originally Posted by Rustic Eagle

Wife (with daughter) following her husband towing a TH.......

Bob

Yup, I see snow I park

[JesseS]

We were coming back from the desert in late Jan going over Tehachapi Pass with light snow. The roadway was just getting covered as we approached the summit. We were in our Alante with a toad, I was in the right lane doing 25mph, turned on flashers and slowed down to 15mph, made it without issues hoping they didn't close the pass. Saw many cars and trucks going way too fast, one fiver in the ditch, truck still on the road, looks like the trailer locked up and slid to the right on the curve. I learned to drive large trucks in the Army, in the winter, in Germany. I am just glad that oncoming Semi saw it coming and was able to stop or that could have been ugly.

[davolson]

I've heard that sound on the windshield often. Not snow, sounded like sleet. Never good.