5th Wheel Involved in Fatal Crash on I5

[Paul Clancy]

If I had a nickle for every time I had some fool dive in front of me and lock his brakes in traffic. You can't win ...leave room in front they dive in, follow close and risk a rear ender. I thought when I got a bigger truck, able to get up to speed with traffic quicker, there would be fewer "upset" drivers who had to get by....nope doesn't matter how fast you go ...so as said go slower and have great brakes. There is a social problem with agressive drivers and unfortunately many have an axe to grind with RVers. My attitude has changed from being afraid of those who'd cut me off to just drive safely and if someone wants to commit suicide that's thier problem. I have NO idea what happened here but as a poster said ...there but for the grace of God...

[Arctic Owl]

You are right Paul, leave room for yourself to safely stop & some FOOL is bound to cut in front of you. Still, I always drive at a slower speed then the traffic in front of me & keep trying to leave as much space in front of me as I can.
I also agree with baddwalk, TOO MANY RVers drive TOO fast for the towing conditions & the vehicle they are towing & tow with. I do not give a **** if the people around me do not like my speed, I drive my combination at the safe speed I know is good for me & them, even they may not know that. In many cases I will intentionally take longer back routes just to keep off the high speed roads to be able to drive at MY SAFE speed not someone elses. If that makes me selfish then so be it.
I have seen TOO MANY RVers out there driving TOO fast on MANY of my trips.
It is NOT necessary to drive at the same speed as everyone else if you need to slow down to enable YOU to stop or manuver safely. Blaming the other guy for being stupid to cause YOU to also do something you do not want to or have to do, is not a good excuse for having an accident.
I can honestly say, anytime I have almost been involved in a close call is likely because I did not correctly allow the correct distance to be maintained or I Was driving faster then I should have been for the conditions I was under.

Reg Reich

[cboh1]

The laws here in California say 55MPH max towing anything.

The good thing is they are really cracking down on that law and not giving the 5 mph over that grace any longer.

We will be towing a WW3505 on a 2005 F250 cc PSD SRW that is rated to tow a 5er of 16,500 lbs.

Tow brake control that is integrated into the ABS system

[CD]

Just a HEADS UP for anyone driving on I5 north of Seattle (from Marysville to Smokey Point for about 6 1/2 miles). The state lowered this section from 70 to 60 yesterday. This is the area that the above accedent happened. They are saying that the WSP is giving warnings today & tomorrow. Mon. (7/4) they will ticket. It sounds like they won't allow much over.

[bstark]

I used to feel "pressured" not to make myself a rolling road block and hustle so as not to inconvenience the other drivers but have since learned the sizable investment I have in my control should not be put at risk because of my concerns over what other drivers will be thinking. It falls to me to allow plenty of room and if someone wants to pass, fine, as long as I am keeping a reasonable pace with the traffic flow and observing posted limits then the problem becomes theirs to decide whether to risk theirs or others lives.

[AnneW]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Arctic Owl:
You are right Paul, leave room for yourself to safely stop & some FOOL is bound to cut in front of you. Still, I always drive at a slower speed then the traffic in front of me & keep trying to leave as much space in front of me as I can.
I also agree with baddwalk, TOO MANY RVers drive TOO fast for the towing conditions & the vehicle they are towing & tow with. I do not give a **** if the people around me do not like my speed, I drive my combination at the safe speed I know is good for me & them, even they may not know that. In many cases I will intentionally take longer back routes just to keep off the high speed roads to be able to drive at MY SAFE speed not someone elses. If that makes me selfish then so be it.
I have seen TOO MANY RVers out there driving TOO fast on MANY of my trips.
It is NOT necessary to drive at the same speed as everyone else if you need to slow down to enable YOU to stop or manuver safely. Blaming the other guy for being stupid to cause YOU to also do something you do not want to or have to do, is not a good excuse for having an accident.
I can honestly say, anytime I have almost been involved in a close call is likely because I did not correctly allow the correct distance to be maintained or I Was driving faster then I should have been for the conditions I was under.

Reg Reich </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree. We went to Wallowa,OR this past weekend, and as we headed down the mountain just outside of Pendleton OR on I82, some idiot pulling a Toyhauler (about 30ft) was FLYING!! Downhill! I'm not kidding, he had to have been doing at least 70. Hubby and I shook our heads, and watched the slight fishtail as he passed everyone up. Idiot. Just because it can tow fast, doesn't mean you should tow fast....

[bstark]

Toyhauler towing dynamics are such that "pushing your luck" by speeding, overly aggressive lane changes or directional changes while in sweeping turns is quite simply asking for trouble. Putting large mass per low volumetric footprint behind the axles such as ATV's, or motorcycles is a recipe for disaster,think "pendulum effect". Even a sudden gust crosswind can get the tail of one of those wagging and if it wags once you have to be quick with the manual control on your brake controller or it's white knuckle time.

[lionrampant]

In California there is a driver's license endorsement required to pull a 5th wheel with a GVWR between 10K and 15K lbs. It's called an RV/Trailer Endorsement. Very few people, including DMV employees, are aware of this requirement. We found out about it from another member of our chapter of SunnyTravelers (Ch. 9). Unfortunately, in today's litigious society, you could be leaving yourself open to a law suit if you're involved in an accident and don't have this endorsement on your license, even if you aren't at fault in the accident!

Go to the DMV's web site to get more info, then go take the test! The test is the written test for a noncommercial class A license. The people at my local DMV office didn't know what I was talking about when I asked to take it, it took me about 3 hours to finally get the test and about 10 minutes to take it. The endorsement on my license is called "restriction 41". Do yourself a favor, invest in a little insurance and take the test.

Ken

[Steve Johnson]

I had heard about that towing license, but I also heard RV's were exempted. I for one hope that they weren't. I think anybody towing anything should at least be required to take a written test, and probably a driving proficiency test as well. I haul um C2C & B2B, I'm actually shocked if I ever have to pass anything that isn't dead or disabled. I just don't understand why it's become socially acceptable for nearly everyone to exceed the posted speed limit. It doesn't say, "if you feel like it; it doesn't say, "it's optional". It says Speed Limit. And I tow all day everyday. . .as far as I know I'm the only one on the road not exceeding 65MPH. I don't care that the limit may be higher in some western states. That's why God made passing lanes. From what I see, quite frankly, the whole world need's to open up about double the space they're leaving. Know what? If everybody opened up three times their length and traveled at the same rate, there wouldn't even be any traffic jams at the 3 to 1 neck downs through construction zones. And everybody would actually get there faster. Better than that. . .everybody would actually GET THERE. Be Safe.

Cheers,
Steve J

[lionrampant]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Johnson:
I had heard about that towing license, but I also heard RV's were exempted. I for one hope that they weren't...
Cheers,
Steve J </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Steve--
The requirement is actually for RVs specifically, but, as I said, you will have a hard time finding anyone at DMV that knows anything about it. If I went by experience, then I would have to believe that almost nobody in California understands that the towing speed limit is 55mph. I would rather get where I'm going, alive and in one piece, than 10 minutes earlier and in many pieces!

Be safe and have fun!
Ken

[robertsonthego]

I asked a CHP buddy of mine about this and he actually knew about it but in the 17 years he had been on the job had never ticketed anyone for it, nor knew any other CHP that did. John