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 of 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 til 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 1 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 a comment.
##RVT969
Do a walk around your rig before leaving your overnight parking spot. Check all compartment doors for security.
Repeat at every refueling and rest stop.
Make a check list, reminding you about hoses, cables and TV antenna. (and other passengers and pets).
Had a flat tire but couldn’t see it in my mirror. Alerted to the problem by a passing motorist. He beeped and pointed at my RV. The tire was starting to smoke when I pulled over. Very thankful.
We were in WY when someone pointed to the rear of our MH. Pulled over & the differential was smoking. Lucky for us we were just short of an off ramp, just past an RV park & a truck repair shop. Unluckily, it was late Friday afternoon. Truck repair told us to talk the auto shops in town, come back Monday if the couldn’t help. Got a spot in RV park, toured the local shops over the weekend. Wound up with RV in truck shop (with kitty) & stayed in a motel until it was fixed & we were on the road again Thursday afternoon. Found a lot to explore around Lyman WY. Glad the other folks alerted us before a real disaster.
My second most embarrassing RV moment was when a young lady holding the Stop/Slow sign on a road project let me know I was dragging my power cord. More recently just after leaving with a full fresh water tank, a passing motorist was pointing to the rear of our RV and mouthing the word “gas”. I could see the gas cap was in place and knew it had to be water as the fill port is unfortunately at about the same level as the tank so the horizontal hose connecting them allows water to run out when full and accelerating especially uphill. Still, I did stop and verify my suppositions.
Rear tire on toad went flat, first car past just blew their horn. I figured an irate driver. The next car was waving and pointing. We stopped immediately, found the tire about gone and $1200 in damage. My tire sensor did not alarm because the valve stem was sheared off so the sensor was somewhere far behind us. We were lucky that more damage was avoided. Pay attention as drivers go by!
This happened to us twice in one day. The first time a trucker brought my attention to a low tire on our TT. While slowing and looking for a place to pull over a second trucker pointed it out as well. Fortunately we were within walking distance of a tire shop. They came and swapped the spare. We drove to the shop while they patched the flat. Took less than an hour to be back on the road.
About an hour later a pickup pulls up to us and tells us we’re dragging a hose. I pulled over to discover our sewer hose had decided to exit the storage tube under the trailer. The hose was a total loss. The frustrating part is the hose came out on the passenger side that I had been unable to open ever. Needless to say we now have strong caps on our storage tube.
One of the easiest things in the world to do is to drive out of a campsite, stop at the camp dumpster to toss out the trash bags, and then get distracted by a conversation. You hop back into the truck and drive off, leaving the door of the trailer wide open. Over the years, we’ve done this twice and were alerted by drivers passing us on the right madly pointing at the trailer. With luck, nothing tumbles out the door as you sail down the highway, but don’t count on it. ALWAYS walk all the way around before taking off, even on short stops.
I-80 Nebraska. Mini Cooper tire totally shredded. Never felt it. Have cameras but didn’t notice anything. Thankful for the person who warned us. Had to have Mini towed as we don’t carry spare. We now put a tire on a rim in the back. Takes up a lot of space, but we don’t care. We have tire monitors on MH. Told my husband we are getting them for the Mini and immediately placed an order for deliver to our next stop where we were staying long enough to get them! One other time we were flagged down on 1-10 On the Panhandle in Florida. Couple, who were in a car, said they had an RV and were thinking about towing a Mini and wanted to know how we liked it. They were very sweet and kind, so we weren’t upset. Plus we were glad nothing was wrong!
I’ve had drivers tell me when my steps don’t retract properly. On this rig, I can’t see them in the mirror since it is a DP with a front entry. I always try to listen for them to retract but sometimes I get distracted.
We were southbound on I-5 a couple miles north of the interchange with the 210 freeway in the rain when two young men passed waving and pointing to the back of our motorhome. We pulled over to the shoulder and found that the tow bar for our Jeep had broke on one side. The guys pulled over and helped us disconnect Jeep and left so quick that all we could do was call out a quick thanks. Said a prayer of thanks as I followed (in the Jeep) my husband in the motorhome the rest of the way home.
Good: I was once flagged down for a truck on fire
Bad: most people YouTube instead of warning you
Ugly: predators have been known to flag pretty girls or vulnerable elders to get them to stop.
Had this happen just outside of New Orleans. Passenger was waving for us to pull over but my husband said that he felt nothing wrong. It started to feel creepy to us Canadians so we just kept going. There was nothing wrong when we stopped.
Was with a group of folks a couple of years ago, young (mid 20’s and up) when these two loud mouths started laughing and saying the fun trick they pulled on an “old people couple” driving their big RV and tow car. They yelled and pointed back at the end as if there was something wong. They got a big kick that the RV immediately pulled over while they drove laughing down the road. Me and two others (who had RV’s) then proceed to tell them what we thought of their prank. It got so bad they left. Strange what some people call fun.
Out on a bike ride I had someone coming up on me fast. I signaled to him to slow down, he did to give me the glare and the finger.
His passenger was screaming at him to look ahead, she saw the herd of deer I was warning them about.
He was able to break in time to avoid ruining his and the deers day.
Many years ago, during my daily commute on I-5 from downtown Seattle 20 miles north to my home, I noticed a car with Canadian license plates. None of their brake lights were working. It was during rush hour and we were creeping along slowly, bumper to bumper. It was almost impossible to even change lanes. I lost sight of the car a couple of times, but about 30 minutes and 5 miles later, I was finally able to get to their passenger side and safely maintain the same slow speed as them. The passenger saw me looking at him through my open window and rolled down his window. I yelled, “You have NO brake lights!” The driver said, “I didn’t hear her.” The passenger said, “I did.” He gave me a thumbs up and a wave, and I drove past them. I saw them take an exit off the freeway a couple of blocks later, next to which there was a big Chevron station. I’m sure they were heading home to Canada from a trip to the states. I was afraid with no brake lights they wouldn’t make it home without getting rear-ended. —Diane at RVtravel.com
I’m one of the good Samaritans that always checks others rigs. When I spot a potential problem I alert the driver. If no response I Will look for a passenger.
I do this so we can all have safe travels wherever life leads us.
Thank you.
I had a bar on my hitch come loose and someone wave and point to the hitch
I pulled over and put the bar back on the hitch.
We got side swiped in a torrential rain storm on I-75 near Valdosta, GA. When it happened we felt a slight lurch, but nothing more. Never saw the vehicle that hit us. About ten minutes later (still raining hard) a good Samaritan pulled along side and waved. I took the next exit and once stopped I found a six foot piece of aluminum trim sticking out the left rear of the Airstream at a 45° angle. I’m very grateful to that concerned motorist and glad I had a hack saw.
Twice. I was towing a trailer. They came alongside waved and yelled I had a flat tire, pulled over to find a shredded tire on the passenger side of the trailer, never felt or heard it.
2d time driving our brand new Coach on I-81 in VA. Pulled into a rest stop to eat lunch, van pulled in next to us, an Amish family got out. The father came up and said the inside rear tire on the passenger side was flat, they had followed us for 5-7 miles to let us know. It was, got it fix by a roadside AAA and then continued on
That was one fast horse and buggy
Multiple cars flashing their lights at me on I-84 heading into Portland at night. My stinky snake was hanging out of the carrier dragging. Had a guy pull into a rest area behind me just after I crossed the TX state line into LA to tell me I had a bubble on my RV tire. It was the size of small pumpkin … saved my RV and probably me.
More than once. I am thrilled by the kindness of strangers. One time last year on the 101 up in the Redwoods a truck passed me an jumped out to flag me down. I pulled over to find the tires of my toad locked and about gone. If he had not gone to so much trouble I’d have been metal to road before long. Saved the trip and the car, but not the front tires.
Twice in 15 years. Once the trim on rear passenger side tire was pulling loose. Second time the trim on driver side tire was loose.
Our front jacks on our 5er drifted down while we were driving and were almost all the way down. A trucker passing honked his horn and frantically pointed. Could have been disastrous. Until we had them replaced, we taped drinking straws to the bottom plate so we could easily monitor the Jack’s through the side view mirror.
I got a lot of “Thumbs up” when pulling a 24′ ski boat with my Class A. It made me smile. Until one afternoon when a frantically waving lady pulled in front of me and stopped. Yeah, a little too quickly, but the right rear boat trailer tire had exploded; damaging only the fender. I know, now I have a TPMS, but the boat is gone.
Traveling down I-95 in our class C, a car pulls up next to us and honks/points behind us to the tow dolly with my VW on it. Wife get up and go’s to the back to check things out,, I hear a loud cry, “Ed, the damn thing is on FIRE! Not what you want to hear at 60 mph on the interstate. Pulled over sharply, stopped and grabbed the fire extinguisher and raced to the back. The fender on the left side and come loose and rotated under the tire, which was now fully engulfed in flames 🔥. I got the fire out but told the wife to call 911 since I had emptied the extinguisher. About that time I was joined by the fire Dept, ambulance and state police (someone else had already called 911. Some young men stopped and helped me get the VW off the dolly and over to the side of the rode. Wife drove it home, I drove the RV and USAA road service picked up the dolly and delivered it to my driveway. Repaired it and sold it a couple of weeks later. Ought a Honda CRV to tow.
Last Sept. I-5 North bound coming into Salem Or.– A guy pulled in front of me & started to tap his brakes & motioning me to pull over.. pulled over & he got out while I was getting out & told me I had a problem….walked back to my front axel & the tire tread had completely separated from the tire carcass…First blowout in 20 years of RVing…. I NEVER FELT THE BLOWOUT…..There is still some good sams out there……Am now prepared for any future tire troubles…. Scary place trying to change a tire beside a freeway when cars are passing you at 75 plus mph…
I took off with the compartment key still in a compartment lock. A kind family pulled along side of me while we were in stop & go traffic crossing the George Washington Bridge heading into NJ and notified me. I was able to jump out, run back and grab said key before traffic moved again. God bless them!
We recently had a car motion us to pull over. He came over and told me something looked wrong with our outboard rear tire. I checked it closely and couldn’t find anything loose. I’ve probably driven 700 miles since then with no issues. Better safe than sorry. I really appreciate other drivers that point out problems to RVrs.
This was probably a scam if he suggested “take the next exit my buddy can fix it for you.” They will try and get you to buy a new tire when there is nothing wrong with it. Know your vehicle, know your tires and know the scams.
Just last week, driving I-80 in Nebraska. Mini-van pulled along side and honked their horn to get my attention. Pointed to the trailer. I did a quick check of the tires and saw no issues. Then a tiny wisp of smoke… I pulled over to find a blown wheel bearing. Found a trailer repair place about 10 miles away, limped in only to watch the wheel roll away in their lot. Repair took about 3 hours. Included repacking all wheel bearings. And replacing the burned out one. Folks said plenty of grease, but sometimes bearings just fail.
Bearings very rarely “just fail” unless they haven’t been properly maintained…
Earlier this year a truck driver honked and pulled up next to us, pointing back towards our RV. I told my husband we need to pull over, somethings wrong. We had lost one of our Disc brakes. We limped down the road and fortunately there was an RV repair shop. They were so gracious, and allowed us to spend two nights there until our installer could come to replace the Disc brake and check everything out. We were so grateful to that truck driver. I wish we could have thanked him personally.
We were driving through a rainy Seattle on I-5, a few days after picking up our trailer 6 years ago. A passing motorist yelled that the tail lights weren’t working on the trailer. We pulled off at the next exit, and found the 7-pin connector had fallen off the tow vehicle. It was very easy to push on, so fell off easily too. Fortunately, I had a collection of bungee cords, including a small diameter, 6″ long one, which I wrapped around the connector and the socket hinged cover, locking the connector in place. I’ve used the bungee cord ever since.
Yup. Happened to us many years ago while pulling our 5th wheel. The “winch” that held the spare tire under the back of the rig had loosened and the tire was swinging about 10″ below the back end of the trailer. We were VERY happy that a good samaritan passing by alerted us. Pulled off the highway, found the issue and winched that thing back up in place presto-presto…
This happened to us as we were leaving Memphis. I was on the interstate and a car passed me waving frantically and pointing to the rear of our MH. I looked in the side mirror and was startled to see 1/4 of the front of our toad! Long story short, one of our tow arms had malfunctioned. On closer inspection, as a result the other arm was now bent, too. We weren’t able to get a replacement until we reached Mobile so we both drove the remaining 2 days of our trip. It could have been a disaster without that warning.
That reminded me. Don’t think some waved at us, but when looking at the rear view camera the MINI Cooper looked like it was up against the motorhome! It was! On I-10 in Louisiana. Fortunately there was room to pull over. And fortunately my husband carries lots of parts. One of the pins had sheared off that holds the tow bar. We had an extra one. And again, fortunately, our RV park was 2 hours away, up a 2 lane road at lower speed, and we had booked a couple of days. Before we took off from the side of the road ordered another tow bar to be overnighted to that RV park. Swapped it out the next day.
I had to honk at this women about 10x to get her to stop. This was leaving a parking area and her back compartment was open. She finally stopped. If someone honks at me I immediately pull over (when safe) and do a walk around.
Yes, a compartment door was open – fortunately all we lost was the laundry basket.
If I might suggest, to help others out, keep a small erase board up front so if you see something wrong, you can write it down and show it to them. We did that when someone’s tv antenna was up.
1) We had a slide out tray in our basement storage….slide out. Fortunately on a 2 lane road. We had just made a sharp turn. 2 shady looking guys in a beat up car waving to us. Not sure at first, but then saw the tray out in our right side mirror. Only lost a roll of paper towels. Also, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. 2) Driving 65 on I-80 thru Nebraska. We had blown a tire on the MINI Cooper. So grateful we were waved down. Down to the rim. 3) A fun one….after we knew there wasn’t an issue…a couple flagged us down and wanted to know about towing our MINI Cooper. The husband seemed a bit embarrassed…it was his wife that wanted us to pull over. Sweet couple. And answered their questions.
Oh yeh, Two weeks ago had a double towd rear wheel blow out. We were able to take an exit in the middle of nowhere on the I 10 35 miles W of Blythe. Tires destroyed, rims saved. 30 seconds more and we would have destroyed the rims. Took a few hours to get a tow, but I am forever grateful for the warning! BTW maybe we should spend some bucks on potholes.
I pulled out of home base and 2 miles down the road someone flagged me down and pointed to the rear of my MH, so I pulled over to investigate and found that I had been towing my 50 ft. 50 amp shore power cord.
No damage fortunately. Coiled it back up and continued down the road.
On I-10 in AZ, we had a highway patrol motion us to pull over. Then he just kept on going. We had a bin door open on the driver’s side.
Driving thru Atlanta a new Jaguar came along side of me and a cell phone was on the roof. I blew our air horns to get the owners attention and he rolled his window down and flipped me off as the cell phone slide off the roof at 55mph. Oh well…..
Numerous times I have attempted to flag someone down who had an issue such as bin door open, sewer hose dragging, awning loose, antenna up, steps down etc. only a couple times did they pay attention to what I was trying to convey. Unfortunately there are also a lot of times I see something wrong but they are going the other direction or hauling on by and nothing I can do.
A friend of mine got flagged down in his RV on the highway by a gas station attendant in his little truck because my friend drove off and left his wife at the gas station. LOL
Darn that gas station attendant. Ruined a perfectly good plan.
Yes, a ways out of town in a sketchy area I noticed a very persistent vehicle following me, honking and waving their arms. Very beat up car. I thought they were gone and pulled off and then there they were, out of their car and running toward me. I thought I was about to be robbed. No! They were Good Samaritans who saw my coach battery (it had a funny mount under RV by axles) being dragged behind me by a cable with sparks flying. Yikes
Passed a 5th wheel with upper bedroom slide-out, out. (Air Brakes?) Wife got them to pull over.
We were driving along and one of our bikes had fell off the stand. A construction gravel truck stopped behind us with flashers so we could fix the problem. Another time our tow truck was smoking and people were waving and honking their horns and we were shocked to discover our tow was on fire. It really could have been a terrible mess if the fire would have ignited the RV engine. We thank those Good Samaritans who flagged us down on both occasion
We have tried to get a message to folks several times, with mixed success. Some folks paid attention, some folks ignored us and at least once, when we were in our coach and trying to let another coach know they had a bin open, we sped up, pulled along side, beeped horn, pointed, waved, pointed, waved…finally got a glance over and flipped off. Sigh.
their loss, really, their possessions
In our case, yes, we were towing, but it was our Class A that had the problem. Smoke coming from the differential (the bump in the back axle). Luckily we were able to limp to the next exit, go back one exit to a truck repair place. We lost a few days waiting for repairs, but we did do some exploring of an area of Wyoming we’d always said we should stop and see some time.
I had a car pass me one day (I was driving my 40 footer DP) and the passenger kept making a funny gesture so I decided to stop and have a look – my mud flap bolt on one side had worn through and the heavy flap was dragging on the road. Damage was minimal (then) but one corner was friction burned. I had a chance to tie it up with my 2nd best tool (besides Gorilla tape) – a small roll of wire. I was able to fix it when I got home. I replaced the 1/4 inch eye bolt with a 1/2 one -both sides. Thank you to the youngster for helping.
We were several miles up the road from an Oklahoma state park where we had spent 3 nights. Two-lane highway, but a car passed us, honking its horn and pointing at the fifth wheel. Fortunately there was a paved shoulder, so we immediately pulled over. We discovered that the antenna was up, opened the trailer, and cranked it down. We had no TV reception or cell service at the very remote park, but I had put up the antenna with hopes of getting a weather report (always a good idea in OK, KS, or TX). Since we never watched the TV, I forgot about the antenna. The park had numerous trees, but we were fortunate in not hitting any when we left. We now have a dry erase board with a complete departure checklist on it and a motorhome with a short, no-crank, 360-degree TV antenna!
I pulled into a rest area in East TX and a guy pulled up beside me and told me I had something on my rear TT tire. I looked and didn’t see anything and he said on the inside. Got down and peeked and sure enough a bubble the size of a large grapefruit on the inside of the tire. Roadside assistance came and changed it, expecting to see a blown tire and damage. He asked how I knew and I told him a very nice gentleman told me. Went to the next town in LA for a new tire and the tire dealer was surprised that the tire hadn’t blown.
Going down the interstate and a young lady indicated something was wrong. The electrical cord had worked it’s way out and was dragging down the road.
Happened on a trip to Canada. We entered Washington when a first vehicle pulled along side of me and did as the cartoon image reflected. I merely looked over, smiled, and mentioned to my wife, “I don’t think they like Californians” and continued on. They gave up and sped away.
A second vehicle immediately approached with a single elderly female driver. We made eye-contact and she calmly pointed toward my rear and mouthed a concern. My wife turn-on the rear camera – our car dolly’s right tire was shredded and running on it’s rim. Got off the freeway at the next exit. The lady followed us and asked if we needed help. We gratefully thanked her for her help, installed the spare (must have), ordered a complete replacement spare to pick-up along the way, and most importantly installed a TMS. It paid-off because we experienced a flat on the other dolly tire on the way home, saving us from another shredded ordeal.
Get a TMS. Don’t have kids play “horsey” on dolly fenders.