Runaway Trailers Cause Damage
Runaway trailers can cause devastating crashes, resulting in serious injuries and/or deaths. Trailers for sale detach from their guidance sources more often than most people realize, despite the catastrophic damage they cause.
The runaway trailer accidents resulted in hundreds of injuries and at least 164 deaths. It is likely that there were many more runaway trailer accidents, injuries, and deaths that were not reported by news sources.
The Los Angeles Times found many types of runaway trailer accidents in their investigation. However, the research showed that the large majority of runaway trailer accidents involved light- and medium-trailers, as opposed to large truck-trailers (i.e. big rigs, 18-wheelers, semi-tractors, etc.).
Individuals and businesses other than commercial-transportation owned most of the trailers. For example, gardening companies often use trailers to transport tools from one location to another. The report showed trailer-rental companies, such as U-Haul International Inc, owned a small proportion of the runaway trailers.
The majority of runaway trailer victims are motorists, however passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians have been seriously injured and killed as well.The following includes some examples of the runaway trailer accidents researched.
Robin Teller and a friend, Brook Webb, were walking home when a trailer, which detached from an Ford truck, struck them. The two women were passing a railroad crossing when the Ford began to cross over the tracks. The trailer rattled as it went over the track and broke loose of its attachment to the Ford. It plowed straight over the two women and crashed through a fence and into a field. Robin Teller was 41 years old and died at the scene.
Earl J. Buetow was the victim of a runaway trailer accident. Buetow was driving northbound on Sierra Highway in his 1990 Dodge pickup truck, behind a Chevy Tahoe that was towing a trailer. At a bump in the pavement, the trailer broke loose from its attachment to the Chevy Tahoe and careened right into oncoming traffic. A southbound driver of a Ford Expedition swerved to avoid the runaway trailer.
Accidents involving any kind of runaway trailer can lead to catastrophic injuries and/or death. The speed and momentum that is present at the time of collision increases the seriousness of these accidents. If a truck driver’s negligence, use of inadequate equipment, and/or lack of instruction causes a trailer to break loose, the truck driver is liable for any injuries and or deaths to motorists, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
