It’s a colorful illustration of why RVers need to be careful. It’s always a mess when a travel trailer rolls over and plays dead.
In this case, along California’s Interstate 80 in Fairfield, Friday morning traffic on September 6 got a major snarl.
Travel trailer rolls over on major interstate
According to local media, Highway Patrol officials say a Toyota 4Runner was pulling this ill-fated travel trailer down the Number Four lane when something went terribly wrong.
The driver lost control, the trailer flipped. It was instantly transformed from a recreational vehicle into a something only suitable for the landfill.
While no official word on the fine-point cause of the crash, RVtravel.com has frequently reminded towable RVers to watch these safety reminders:
- Tow only with a rig rated to haul the trailer weight
- Use and always inspect appropriate hitch equipment
- Don’t overload the rig
- Check the tire pressure
- Keep the speed down to a dull roar
While this trailer rolled over and became a total loss, happily there were no human injuries.
##RVT1174b
Very glad not to have been behind that vehicle and trailer.
I wonder if the salesman said “Oh sure you can pull it with that “. I heard that at most of the places I went
We’ve been on the road for over a month now, and I couldn’t tell you how many tow vehicles I’ve seen whose mirrors couldn’t even see down the sides of the trailers they’re pulling…let alone the traffic that’s following them 😳
According to CHP, the double-axle trailer became detached from the 4Runner pulling it. Looking at the pictures, the 4Runner would be marginal for having enough capacity to pull such a trailer.
Safety chains enter the chat….
Thank you, Russ and Tiña! 🙂 Wow! That was quite a mess that that RV became, probably almost instantaneously. Amazing, huh? A magician would need much more time than that and probably still couldn’t “transform” the RV as much as that little roll-over did. 🙁 Thank you for the news. Have a great week, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
Had one of those 4 runners couple years ago…the thing was worthless for pulling anything but a Harbor Freight lawnmower trailer. This after the jelly bean salesman claimed it would pull a travel trailer…tried that too…tried pulling a Jayco Hummingbird…what a joke. Promptly got rid of that toy-OTA…no more thank you…live and learn.
Nothing wrong with the 4Runner, but it is not a tow vehicle.
I wonder who pays for the clean up. Suffering taxpayers?
4 Runners are great for towing tiny trailers and small boats. There’s not a double axel trailer that fits that description