Travel Trailer Trip Safety
Towing Capacity: The first thing you should know is what your towing vehicle is capable of handling. You cannot just hook the thing up to a trailer and take off. Some vehicles are not meant to tow at all and some can carry considerable weight and pull big trailers. Towing capacity refers to how much weight your vehicle can both carry and tow and still be road safe. The vehicle maker will have screwed a little metal tag on your vehicle that tells you what your total vehicle weight rating is. It is called gross vehicle weight rating and will be abbreviated GVWR. This is the maximum (that means absolute total) weight you can put in the vehicle and tow behind it. It is based on the structure of the frame, the suspension, the springs, the tires and the torque and transmission. Changing any of these factors can change how much weight your vehicle can safely handle. If anything on your vehicle has been changed you should check with your dealership to see if the limits have been altered.
Power and Transmission: Your vehicle should produce plenty of power from the engine but you need to have the proper transmission and differential to handle a load as well. Overheated transmissions cause many vehicle fires and you see smaller motor homes on fire along the highways on a too frequent basis because people overloaded the things and the transmission just could not handle the load. Your dealership should be able to help you choose a good vehicle. If you already have the towing vehicle and trailer make sure you do not over load them. It is way to easy to stuff the cupboards with enough food for an army, fill the water tanks until they run over, add all the clothes you think you might need, plus all the bedding you would normally use in a year and just get way too much weight on.
Vehicle and Trailer Condition: Your towing vehicle needs to be in top condition and so does your trailer. My husband came up behind a “happy homeowner” (a motor-home) towing a small trailer with a car on it. The trailer brakes had locked and were on fire and the driver was whizzing off down the road blissfully unaware that disaster was literally upon him. Accidents and breakdowns happen to the best prepared drivers (but a lot less often than they happen to the ill prepared). Make yourself a checklist or copy this one and check it before you start out on the road.
Safety Check List
1 Check tire tread (make sure there is plenty of tread) and Pressure (make sure tires are inflated to recommended pressures).
2. Check the spare for both the towing vehicle and the trailer.
3. Check your electrical system; turn on your lights and check high and low beams, blinker bulbs (front and back), tail lights, brake lights, and four way emergency flashers. Check all clearance lights and the license plate lights.
4. Clean the Battery terminals, the date on the battery or the fluid levels if they are not the sealed variety.
5. Check your oil, water, transmission fluid, power steering fluid and brake fluid levels.
6. Check your fan belt, all your hoses and the operation of your windshield washer. Fill the windshield washer reservoir.
7. Lean down and look under the trailer and the towing vehicle to note any spots where things may be leaking.
8. Check for loose wires, hanging suspension parts or broken springs
9. Check your tires for oil stains from the hub; stains indicate a possible leaking wheel seal and need to be fixed.
10. Every time you stop walk around your vehicle and lay the back of you hand against the hubs. If they are too hot to hold your hand against, it indicates a dry hub; this must be fixed before you go on.
11. Check your trailer hitch assembly; Make sure it is tight and that the bolts are not working loose. Be sure your safety chains are hooked up properly and are the correct length.
12. Make sure any exterior doors are latched tight on the trailer and that all its windows are closed before you move it. Make sure any rooftop air vents are closed and all antennas or awnings are properly secured.
Practice: Remember the story of the singer who was looking for the Grand Ol’ Opery? He stopped on the streets of Nashville and ask how to get to the Opery and the local character told him to “practice, practice, practice”. That’s true for reaching your vacation destination also. The more practicing you do in the weeks before your actual vacation the more relaxed you will be. Being familiar with the equipment reduces the chance of accidents and allows you to anticipate how it will act when you need to change lanes or brake suddenly. Remember that trailers do this little thing called off tracking. You will need to give it extra room on the inside of turns for the wheels to stay down off the curb, or up out of the ditch if you are turning out of the highway onto a secondary road. The only way to know how much off tracking your trailer will do is to take it out and drive it. Go slowly and watch your trailer tires in the mirror as you make the turn. You should get in the habit of looking in the rearview mirrors every six to ten seconds. When you know what should be back there, it only takes a glance to tell you if something goes wrong. If you are looking in the mirrors that often you have time to react to a problem before it becomes an emergency.
Know your Route: Some roads are just not made for trailers. It does not make sense to take the scenic route with 7% grades and switchback turns if you are pulling a 34 foot trailer. Get a commercial drivers atlas and learn what the road markings mean. If you stay on roads that are marked ok for big trucks (semi trucks) you will be safe with your trailer. If you want to go to some area that is marked as restricted for semi trucks be sure to check both height restrictions and towing length restrictions. Some back country roads will also have bridge weight restrictions. Be sure you do not ignore a weight restriction on a country bridge. Nothing will dampen your vacation plans like ending up in the creek.
Must Have List: It is important to carry the appropriate papers, emergency equipment, a safety kit, and food and water supplies; here is the list I recommend.
Must Have List
1. Papers: Credit cards, checks, maps, registration for your towing vehicle and trailer, insurance information, a list of important phone numbers.
2. Equipment: Three or more reflective triangles, jack and tire irons suitable for vehicle and trailer (these may be different), tools for light emergency repairs
3. Large comprehensive first aid kit.
4. Light sticks and flashlights with extra batteries
5. Hand warmers and tire chains if driving in winter
6. extra water if driving in summer
Lane Changes and Merges: Ok you’re all set; you have practiced all week, loaded stuff carefully, performed all the safety checks and checked the lists at least a dozen times. It is time to go from your practice range to the real world. Driving in the city is a lot harder than driving in the country or most suburbs; lane changes and merges can be very dangerous in heavy, fast moving traffic. People in the city may not be aware that you need extra space when you have a trailer in tow. Merging into heavy traffic can be really scary but if you turn on your blinkers as soon as you start on the merge ramp it helps other drivers see you and allow you room to merge. Likewise turn on your blinkers early for lane changes. Some drivers will not give way and that is basically their right as you are the party coming into the stream of traffic. The way to handle this is to match your speed as closely as you can to the main traffic stream and ease in gently. Never get hostile with other drivers, the outcome can be disastrous. Your practice sessions should have included some exercises in determining where the rear of your trailer is located. “Driving by your mirrors” is what the truckers call it, and it involves knowing where your trailer is all the time. To practice this skill you can chalk a mark on the pavement in a large empty parking lot and drive past it. When you think the corner of your trailer has cleared the mark, stop, get out, go back and check. After a bit of practice you will get a feel for the distance your towing vehicle and trailer reach behind you. Rearview mirrors give a different perspective on distance than looking ahead so it is important to practice this skill. When you can clear the chalk mark every time get a small box and weight it just enough to keep it from scooting away in the wind your combination makes as you drive to it. Drive past and pull in front of the box as you would a car. Clearing the box avoids an accident but in traffic be sure to allow extra space because the car you are passing or moving in front of is moving forward at about the same speed you are.
Speed and Safety: Accident investigators will confirm that the most frequent cause of accidents for vehicles pulling trailers is too much speed combined with abrupt changes such as braking to hard or sudden lane changes. The rule for following distances is to allow four seconds between you and the car you are following. But the faster you are going, and the heavier your gross combined vehicle weight, the longer it takes to stop. When you apply brakes suddenly the momentum of your vehicle will tend to cause skidding which effectively puts you out of control. A sudden lane change at 60 miles per hour can cause a camping trailer to rock first one way and then the other which may cause a tip over or roll over of the trailer. That in turn jerks the towing vehicle out of control and may cause it to roll as well. The best accident prevention is to stay at or below the speed limit on straight roads with light traffic and reduce your speed below posted speeds for turns and when in heavier traffic. Your combination may feel perfectly stable at high speeds. The trailer may not sway at all at a posted speed of 75 miles per hour but if debris falls off the vehicle in front of you it would be impossible to avoid at that speed without an accident. You cannot make precipitous moves with a trailer and have a harmonious outcome.
Good Trips: Good trips happen when planning and preparedness are combined with plenty of time. Plan extra time for coffee breaks, rest stops, sightseeing breaks, lunch breaks and just relaxation and stress reduction breaks; you can resist the temptation to drive too fast when you know you have tons of time to get where you are going and back. Take your trailer, take your trip, and take your time. This is your prescription for a good vacation.
