On the road, most of us have experienced looking out our window to see a car passing by with someone waving frantically, and pointing toward our vehicle or behind it. Most of the time these are Good Samaritans who have spotted something wrong with our vehicle or the one we’re towing. This message and the ensuing responses were posted at our RV Advice Group on Facebook and we believe are worth passing along.
And thanks to those of you who care enough about others to flag them down when there’s a problem!
From a group member
“This is a tip for new RV drivers. As cars pass you, every so often, take a glance at the passenger seat of the car passing you. If they ignore you then that’s good! But, they may just be trying to get your attention to alert you that something behind you is not right. Maybe a strap is loose, or something is hanging. These things don’t cause an alarm for you, so if you can become aware about it sooner, you might just be able to fix it before something bad happens. Here’s to safe travels.”
And here are a few responses
“Had that happen while pulling a U-Haul last month. A wonderful young man came up beside us, stayed there until we noticed. He pointed, we pulled over… flat/blow out. Didn’t hear it or feel it! We were so thankful!! BTW, U-Haul came within a half hour and changed the tire quick!”
“Happened to me yesterday. My tow car trunk lid was up and some nice gentleman kept blinking his lights and motioning me that something was wrong. Of all the cars which passed, only one made such an effort.”
“Just happened to me. My water heater door was flapping and someone pulled up next to me and let me know.”
“Yep, on a small travel trailer last year people tried to get my attention but I didn’t get it at first. Lost a propane tank and one was dragging under the trailer, sparks flying and actually caused the tank to puncture. Could have ended in a disaster – lucky.”
“My husband used to drive truck and it was someone passing him that alerted him that the back of his truck was on fire. He was able to pull off as there was an exit right there and everyone was safe. Truck, not so much.”
“We had one of our bin doors open on the driver’s side. Luckily someone came up next to us and honked and pointed to tell my husband. He had not noticed it.”
What about you? Has a passerby ever pointed out a bad situation to you that saved your day? Please leave a comment below.
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A couple of nice young men in B.C. Canada flagged me down because a spring on my TT had broken, and the tires were rubbing together and smoking. I pulled over and they stopped to help for quite awhile. Fortunately this happened where I could get into a shop that could jerry-rig it to get it back to the shop, and then lift it and replace the spring. If the men hadn’t flagged me down when they did, I could have been somewhere else without a shop that could help.
One better watch others from the corner of your eye now days…you might come face to face with something unwanted.
This happened to us last fall; a trucker passed and pointed frantically at the trailer. We pulled over and the tire had blown and the rim was shot. We never felt it happen. Fortunately there was no significant damage beyond the ruined rim. Had been meticulous about checking the tires but apparently that wasn’t enough, and we’ve since gotten a TPMS.
A few years ago, I blew a tire on our 5th wheel trailer. It was fairly windy so I didn’t notice. A couple pulled up next to us with a sign in their passenger window as to what happened. They even pulled over with us to see if they could help.
Use good judgment. I read of a scam in So Cal where a “good samaritan” would flag a big RV/coach (read senior citizens), and “help” them after they were stopped. “Help” involved an “inspection”, discovery of an “emergency”, and directing to an over-priced shop for a fraudulent “repair”.
Thank you for the reminder, RV Travel! Yes, we had an after-market TPMS with sensors for the RV tires. However, the sensors were not on the towed Jeep. The front passenger-side tire had blown and was not visible in the rear-view camera. Thankfully a couple persuaded us to exit the interstate and the blown tire was almost completely without rubber and may have soon sparked or worse. Present TPMS includes all RV tires AND those of the towed Jeep. Have a great day and safe travels!
OMGosh but does this bring back a memory… We were towing our 5th wheel down the highway at 55mph out west and a vehicle pulled up next to us and started pointing towards the back of our rig. We immediately pulled over and found that our dual bicycle rack had broken and we were dragging our bikes down the highway. We later found out that our bike rack was not “certified “ for RV use. Didn’t even know that was a thing…