Trailer Detachment Accident Sends 2 To The Hospital

If that trailer had come off at 20 mph or probably much less, the landing gear would have been folded up under it, no putting it back down.

 

He pulled it for a little ways. I dropped a pin where 95 starts up the hill south of town, which is where it looks like this happened by the pics. Once you hit the bottom of the hill the road is two lanes on each direction out across the valley.

 

I agree, if loaded, which I doubt this was, as someone cranked the dollies down to get it off the car, they probably would have folded. I saw an Ottawa yard horse drop a loaded wagon going about 20 mph and the landing gear survived. Made an awful noise, however.

 

Mergenthaler is a regional LTL carrier based in Helena MT. So if it wasn’t empty it was likely pretty light.

 

Jost and Fontaine both have fifth wheel recalls. I’ve seen one of our trailers come loose after 250 miles on a 2013 Peterbilt. Luckily the trailer slid off the highway and it was during the daytime.

 

How broad was the recall, it couldn't have been for all of them.
Was it for some manufactured in a certain time frame or some model number, as fontaine I know has several options, such as a light weight one. I have one though and it has been flawless.

 

I don't get it, not only are their no skid marks, the notoriously fragile skirts haven't made a mark either.
And both the trailer and the car are on the wrong side of the double yellow.

So the trailer separated, but stayed so perfectly balanced that the skirts never touched the ground, long enough for the trailer to enter the other lane but for the tractor to completely clear while the car had enough time to attempt to swerve left but hit the trailer dead on?

That's a lot of ifs.

 

I wished those skirts were outlawed. linden always winds up with a few of those lower 48 trailers up here. Those skirts catch a lot of wind and are only on the lightweight 2 axle trailers, coming back empty they can be dangerous as hell, with the winds we have to deal with at times, especially on ice.

 

This is a truck drivers worst nightmare.......
Other than a steering assembly falling apart at highway speeds (Steering shaft joints,Drag link breaking or a -arm coming off steering box)....

The dreaded coupling device failing at highway speeds......

Now,I don't want "Idiots" replying to this that just "Blame the driver" all the time.

At What point do you go after the trailer manufacturer or 5th wheel manufacturer because of failed parts?

Lets say you did your "Pretrips" you maintain your equipment- But the Kingpin plate Breaks away from the Welds? Or fasteners in some cases?

Or the 5th wheel itself loses its jaw in transit due to worn parts underneath the fifth wheel (Worn springs and pins)

You still gonna blame the driver because his trailer disconnected at 65 mph and killed 12 people that the trailer slammed into 5 vehicles at brute force due to the aformentioned failures?

 

And before the replies start........

I already know what you guys are gonna say.

"It's so rare that that will occur,One in a million,But in that case,For legality purposes,The Driver has to take it on the chin because of heavy fatalities, There has to be accountability IMMEDIATELY"

Another reason why many wont do this job