I guess the thing that
upsets me the most, is knowing what COULD have happened. I bet 100 different
scenarios have played in my head since this incident.
Sunday, we took the quick
trip down to Destin to drop off the boat at a storage unit. Now when we travel
by car, we get there a lot faster, use less gas, etc.
The old man gets really
grumpy and demanding when he wants things to happen a certain way. "We need to
be out of the door at 9:00 AM to get there in time for me to sign the contract
and park the boat." Fine by me, I had to go take care of Miz and Slayer but
made it back in plenty of time. His oldest son (who is home from college) was
asleep in the bed at 8:59 AM. The old man gets testy and I say, "Look, we are
ready, get your son." A little after 9:00 AM we pull out of the drive
way.
We go down the hill to the
first stop sign and I hear a "clunk clunk." We all looked back to see the boat
was fine, no problem. We go several blocks and stop at another stop sign.
"clunk scrap clunk." I make a face.
We get out of the car and
he looks at the boat and says, "Its fine, must be the brakes on the trailer."
I'm no boater so that sounds fine by me.
The next block a LOUD
SERIOUS "clunk scrap clunk." The old man pretends he heard
nothing!!!!
I say, " OK, STOP the truck
[ford expedition) something is very wrong!" He POUTS and puts it in
park not even BOTHERING to get out and look. Being a nurse you are
trained to start at the top of the head and go to the toes, that's what I did
with the boat trailer.
Ball on ... tight
snug...... no problem.
Then I see
it!!!!
THE PIN THAT HOLDS THE
HITCH FROM THE CAR TO THE BOAT IS GONE... MISSING...
The trailer was inches
away from sliding completely OUT of the hitch, only the chains were holding it.
Keep in mind, we had not gotten on the interstate yet , thank you
Jesus.
I motion for him to
come take a look- he sees it and says
" OhMYGOD!!!!!!!!
'
His youngest son said, "
Oh, I have one of those in my car~" So the old man runs 6 or 8 blocks and gets
the pin. The boys have to chuck (?) the wheels, put the boat up and align the
hole so that when he gets back we can put the pin in.
He gets back, off we go and
he says, " Thank you sweetheart." I was so mad....... he was hell bent
on getting that boat down there no matter what.
I took a photo of the hitch
with the bolt this morning. The other two photos aren't mine. They show the
size of a boat similar to his and it shows the size compared to the truck .The
other photo is one of the 100 things I imagined that could have happened. I'm
still kinda mad at the old man for making light of the noise, simply because he
wanted to MAKE it before 5:00 PM
25 comments on Death~ it Wasn't My Time to Go I Guess ... .
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It sounds like you guys were really lucky! I am glad that you made it through safe!
AJ
Jenn
anything - small trailer - caravan - 'boat', always 'check' everything periodically. You had a narrow escape, thank God [THUMBUP][HEART]
'not', have seen. [THUMBDOWN]
Just keep listening, to that ' little voice'. [THUMBUP] [HEART]
Bad news: You listen to your inner voice. Sometimes it could make you paranoid, and you friends may think that you are crazy.
You did good![HEART]
Wayman[WINK]
>
> PLEASE READ THE REPORT TITLED TA 14 FROM MY STATE....
> LOOK AT THE LAST PAGE... NOTHING MORE THAN MY LITTLE REFLECTOR TAPE
> HAS BEEN DONE TO THESE TRAILERS.
> I've been trying to make a difference for 4 years but yet these companies that make these trailers
> keep trying to undo what I am trying to do. Ever wounder why they weigh just under 3,000
pounds??? its becasue they don't need to get inspected and they don't need a breakway breaking system.
Very few people train the customer on how to tow. So anybody can get one with no idea what to do
but they are given a manuel to read. MY POINT IS HAS EVERYBODY READ THEIR VCR'S
MANUEL?? THAT IS WHY THE CLOCK KEEPS BLINKING.
>
> At the bottom is the story your District Attorney released to the local media. WHY CAN'T THE
> REST OF THE COUNTRY BENEFIT FROM YOUR EFFORTS WE HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM
> ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.
>
> Your story is a great one and you did a great job. These trailers are dangerous... please take a moment to
> read my story.
>
> THIS KIND OF ACCIDENT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.
> PLEASE GO TO www.dangeroustrailers.com for more
>
> and then go to these links, in the past 4 years over 1,800 people have
> been killed and over 100,000 injuries due to these trailers.
>
>
> Go to www.dangeroustrailers.com
> and go here to see more viedo:
> http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_216222237.html
> and more video:
> http://www.kfmb.com/story.php?id=75245
> and more:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN_FZGSHukE
> and yet even more:
> http://www.click2houston.com/news/10291211/detail.html
> Trailer hazards start crusade
>
> Wed, Feb 21, 2007
> By EMILY STRANGERThe Brunswick News
> Ron Melancon considers himself a simple man. "I'm just a nobody who works in a department store," he said.But this nobody from Richmond, Va., has already changed one state law and is campaigning to change laws in the other 49 states.
> It's a crusade that started five years ago, when Melancon, 43, was returning home from a library with his 5-year-old son. He rear-ended a utility trailer being pulled by a pick up truck in front of him.He didn't even see it coming. Literally."I kept asking myself why didn't I pick up on the trailer, when it occurred to me that the trailer had a design flaw," he said. "The trailer was a see-through trailer, and it had nothing on or in it to give it some depth."The trailer had no brake lights or reflective tape, either. Melancon had looked right through it, seeing only the truck pulling it.When Melancon went to court over the incident in 2003, he pleaded not guilty to avoid conviction for causing an accident by following too closely.
>
> He told the judge that the trailer was unsafe and hard to see. The judge dismissed Melancon's ticket, but required him to go to driving school.From that day forward, Melancon has been leading a campaign against utility trailers that has already changed legislation in his state of Virginia. Now, his focus is on a national level."I discovered that these trailers are out there causing problems in places across the country," he said.
>
> Glynn County is one of the places that caught Melancon's eye.On Jan. 17, a homemade trailer broke away from a pick up truck and crossed the center line of the F.J. Torras Causeway, striking a black Chevrolet S-10 Blazer driven by Karen Simpson. Simpson, 48, an employee at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, was thrown from her vehicle and killed.The driver of the truck, Joel Dixon, 23, has charges against him pending.Simpson's death is one of 1,000 deaths related to allegedly unsafe trailers in the United States, Melancon said."Most of the trailers you see on the road don't have taillights, or - if they do - the lights aren't working correctly," he said. "Also, many trailer owners don't even know the proper way to hitch them to their vehicles."
>
> Melancon has spent over $20,000 the past three years on a lobbyist and on published materials. He has 50 books that he plans to send to senators across the country. Each book is filled with news clippings detailing fatal accidents in every state.He has also posted video footage of fatal wrecks on YouTube.com for all the world to see.And he keeps a camera in his car at all times to take pictures of unsafe trailers on the road. He now has over 2,000 photographs in stock.Glynn County Police Capt. Jim Kelly said all trailers are inspected in Georgia when the owners get them titled."The inspectors look to see that the trailer has a VIN (vehicle identification number) plate, safety chains (to secure a trailer to a towing vehicle if a trailer hitch fails), and working brake lights and turn signals," he said.The trailer that hit Simpson's vehicle on the F.J. Torras Causeway had safety chains, but they weren't attached, Kelly said."Also, the truck had an undersize ball for the trailer it was pulling," he said. "The truck's ball was 1 7/8-inches, and the trailer was made to pull a 2-inch ball." Simpson's death does not stand alone in the state.
>
> The most recent statistics compiled by the Georgia Department of Transportation's Safety Unit show that there were 3,089 automobile accidents involving trailers in 2005.Of these crashes, there were 1,357 injuries and 13 fatalities.Melancon said he believes that the majority of these wrecks could have been prevented had the trailers been required by law to adhere to mandatory safety guidelines.
Here is your story:
http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_108143014.html
Authorities To Educate Truckers On Trailer Safety
(KDKA) PITTSBURGH One year ago, a wood chipper broke loose and collided with a minivan, killing Spencer, Garret and Alaina Morrison on Route 8.
Ethan Morrison, who was four years old at the time, survived.
Now, with the support of Spencer’s widow, Nicole, authorities are trying to prevent those types of accidents from ever happening again.
The effort, which involves city, county and State police is called Operation Soar.
Law enforcement officials are banding together to educate truckers and to crack down on the ones who haven’t learned their lesson.
"These people are on notice. These companies are on notice. And the fines may be relatively minor, but they're on notice they've created a dangerous situation on these highways, and if something bad happens from that, the ramifications, especially criminally, are much more substantial," District Attorney Stephen Zappala said.
Local trucking companies call it a big step in the right direction.
“It's always been one of our initiatives, to have safe operation of our vehicles,” Ron Uriah, from Pitt Ohio Express Trucking, said.
On Saturday at police headquarters on the North Side, crews will perform courtesy checks. The event is part of the effort that began along Route 8 after the Morrison tragedy.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
And here is a recent news article on a women who lost her leg...
Do you think her 6 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER SHOULD WITNESS HER MOTHER
GETTING HURT???
If this happend to your wife would you change your mind?
Where is the Insurance Indusry???
By John B. Carpenter
HERALD-NEWS EDITOR
A Spring City woman was seriously injured and had to have part of her right leg amputated after a runaway trailer crashed into her car Saturday afternoon.
Lori Overton, 43, of Spring City, was headed southbound in her 1994 Chevrolet pickup truck on Watts Bar Highway Saturday at about 3:40 p.m. Overton’s 6-year-old daughter was seated beside her in a secured booster seat.
Michael Allen Garrison, 28, also of Spring City was driving an Isuzu pickup truck north on Watts Bar Highway towing a large, double-axle trailer, about 16-18 feet long. The empty trailer’s tongue came off the truck’s ball hitch, and the trailer, which was not secured by safety chains, crossed the center line and crashed into Overton’s truck, according to Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Phillip Dunn.
The trailer’s tongue penetrated the driver’s side of Overton’s truck and badly damaged her right leg. Her truck came to rest against the guardrail, with the trailer in the middle of the road.
Garrison stopped his pickup, got out and checked the damage, then got back in his truck and drove away, Dunn said.
Neither Garrison, nor his passenger, Jennifer McCampbell, 22, of Spring City, was injured in the crash.
Overton and her daughter were both transported by LifeForce medical helicopter to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga where surgeons were forced to remove part of Overton’s right leg. She was in serious but stable condition Monday, and her daughter was scheduled to be released after receiving treatment for minor injuries, Dunn said.
Garrison turned himself in at the Rhea County Jail Sunday evening. Dunn arrested him and charged him with driving on a suspended license and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries. Garrison’s arraignment was scheduled for March 30, and he was released from the Rhea County Jail on a $13,000 bond.
John Carpenter can be reached at jcarpenter@xtn.net.
The Bay Bridge accident is an example of our federal government's lack of oversight. I traveled to Washington more than 3 1/2 years ago and spoke to officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with the help of my congressman, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.). I passionately encouraged NHTSA officials to take action on utility trailers.
Several problems imperil public safety. The outdated federal guideline that deals with lighting standards, which has not been updated since 1969, does not require working taillights, inspections, and training on how to tow and how to avoid hitching problems.
The guideline permits anybody to build a homemade trailer. It provides oversight only on utility trailers weighing more than 3,000 pounds. By producing a trailer that is 2,999 pounds, a company can avoid federal oversight.
On average, 450 people are killed a year in accidents involving utility trailers. NHTSA should do something about this immediately.
RON J. MELANCON
Glen Allen, Va.
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