According to friends of the driver, she hit a pothole and the entire rig flipped or rolled several times. There was a large horse (17.2 hands) and a pony on board who were both killed in the accident. The driver and passenger had minor injuries.
Other comments were that the Expedition has too short a wheelbase for the 2H BP with DR. I don't know if a WDH was in use.
Hitting a pothole can be, many times, unavoidable. The results could have been just as bad with a larger vehicle because the pothole itself could have caused a blow-out or loss of control. Driving around major metropolitan areas on multi-lane expressways has to be the most white-knuckled driving any horse owner (towing a trailer) can ever experience.
Posted 2005-08-24 2:46 PM (#29571 - in reply to #29565) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 20
Location: Delta, B.C. Canada
How awful. We have more than enough truck to haul our 4H LQ trailer however I always have a slight edginess when hauling horses, breathe a sight of relief when we arrive at our destination and then when we get back home. I'm sure those people feel terrible about the horses.
Posted 2005-08-24 5:04 PM (#29576 - in reply to #29565) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
Regular
Posts: 91 Location: South Carolina
Farmbabe, that is so true!!! That wreck could have been a LOT worse. It could have been multi-vehicle with many people killed. Sorry to hear about their loss, but at least they were able to walk away from it without serious injuries. We all need to be careful out there on the roads. Things like this only take a fraction of a second & can happen not only to horse people pulling big rigs, but other smaller vehicles.
Posted 2005-08-25 6:56 AM (#29586 - in reply to #29565) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 2689
Tragic indeed.
The particular road IS BAD, both for traffic and often surface.
That said, I still have some trouble understanding how she hit it without warning. If you don't see them DIRECTLY you usually see that the line of cars in front of you is doing the MDSN (Massachusetts driver snake dance), so you know that something other than road kill take out is up ahead. There was some suggestion that she overcorrected after she hit it,,, I find that quite believable.
As the article says, the cause is still under investigation, it is also under a LOT of local speculation.
Posted 2005-08-25 7:37 AM (#29588 - in reply to #29565) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 455 Location: Ontario - east of TO
I agree with Reg it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. My guess was that there was more to it than just the pot hole, inattention, speed, inexperience, and/or maintenance issues on the rig were likely part and parcel to the accident (but then most accidents are more a chain of events rather than one cause).
Regardless of the reasons, it is a horrible thing to have happen. My heart goes out to her and her family.
Posted 2005-08-25 7:50 AM (#29590 - in reply to #29565) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 97
That is a tragedy. It's all ready been said. I breath a sigh of releif when we get there and when we arrive back at the house. For me I can't even imagine the pain they must be feeling right now. My heart goes out to them for their loss. I agree experience has a lot to do with it. Having the right vehicle when pulling horses or anything of significant size is equally important.
Posted 2005-08-25 9:42 AM (#29593 - in reply to #29590) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 455 Location: Ontario - east of TO
Originally written by Horse Crazy on 2005-08-25 8:50 AM
. My heart goes out to them for their loss. I agree experience has a lot to do with it. Having the right vehicle when pulling horses or anything of significant size is equally important.
The vehicle was an Expedition - those things are huge - they are built on a full truck frame.... I doubt type of tow vehicle had any part of it - though set up and/or maintenance may have played a part. It does say that the rig rolled over the guard rail - so maybe the high center of gravity didn't help the issue..... though a 4x4 pick up truck wouldn't have faired any better.
Posted 2005-08-25 10:48 AM (#29595 - in reply to #29565) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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I admit to being VERY surprised and taken off guard recently when my L'il Jamco SUDDENLY blew a tire. Despite the tow vehicle weight and the oft claimed "stability" of a dually, it DID pull the truck around. Fortunately this was below 30 MPH.
Re "Experience": The word reminds me of a strip cartoon;
Frame 1: Sail boat making good way, neatly trimmed, etc., caption "Doing things right comes from experience"
Frame 2: Similar sail boat, sails loose, sheets flopping everywhere, going nowhere., caption "Experience comes from doing things wrong".
I attribute my survival of my early driving years to LUCK !
I've learned to dampen my reactions, my reflexes have slowed, I'm not sure if I'm actually safer, though I know I'm more cautious.
Any (scuba) diver will tell you that just about ANY accident is the result of several contributing factors. I think with traffic accidents we (naturally) tend to want to shift the blame to... well, ANYWHERE, ANYTHING, just not ME !
Surface, visibility, traffic density, on and on - these are just EXCUSES.
We HAVE TO drive within the limitations they impose, ESPECIALLY with our larger, less manuverable, harder to stop rigs.
Posted 2005-08-25 11:24 AM (#29596 - in reply to #29579) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 1391 Location: North of Detroit, MI
Originally written by chadsalt on 2005-08-24 6:34 PM
a pothole, huh? must have been a big one.
chadsalt... living in SC buffers you from the absolutely wretched results of cracked pavement that gets water into it and then freezes and busts apart. Which is then repaired... albiet usually not adequately - and the repair then falls apart after 50 or so vehicles drive over it. There's been times when I've seen holes completely through a bridge structure - no pavement AT ALL...
There's some magic line that bisects northern states into north-south regions where only asphalt can be installed for roads built on the northern side of this line and on the southern side of the line, concrete can be installed. This is the civil-road engineers method to that allows road builders to use concrete for some roads and blacktop for others to allow for the ice-breakup-road phenomenon. Alas, mother nature plays us the fool and doesn't always follow this north-south division.
So far as avoiding the pothole... there are times when I'm not sure if I'm approaching a hole or a patch in the road... Taking evasive action when towing a horse trailer might be the worst thing to do... or who's to say that perhaps she DID tried to avoid the pothole, hit it anyway, and the combination of efforts was what created the accident?
I posted the article as a simple reminder that accidents CAN and DO happen. Hug your horse when you return from a safe trip.
Posted 2005-08-25 12:27 PM (#29600 - in reply to #29565) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 455 Location: Ontario - east of TO
Reg - funny you mention the diver thing... I'm a diver - that's likely where the "chain of events" came from. But it is so true - often it's a chain of 3 or more events that result in an accident... where if only one or two things happened all would have been fine. For instance, the article mentioned the rig flipped over a guard rail.... had it only been a shallow ditch there this likely would have been a much happier story. That fact does make you think that maybe the guard rail should have been higher in the first place!
I agree experience comes from mistakes - hopefully more of someone else's than your own, and small mistakes - not big one's like this poor lady.
Posted 2005-08-25 12:46 PM (#29602 - in reply to #29600) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 2689
I'm also superstitous (-:
Not only about the rule of thirds (1/3), but if I find 2 mistakes in my pre-dive routine, prep, or problems with my gear - I just don't dive that day.
I figure my senses are "off" and the third (fourth and fifth ?) items would probably conspire to kill me.
I don't remember where I picked this up, but I've had a few days on the boat's deck or the beach and enjoyed them about as much.
Posted 2005-08-25 3:01 PM (#29605 - in reply to #29596) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 1416 Location: sc
Originally written by gabz on 2005-08-25 12:24 PM
Originally written by chadsalt on 2005-08-24 6:34 PM
a pothole, huh? must have been a big one.
chadsalt... living in SC buffers you from the absolutely wretched results of cracked pavement that gets water into it and then freezes and busts apart. Which is then repaired... albiet usually not adequately - and the repair then falls apart after 50 or so vehicles drive over it. There's been times when I've seen holes completely through a bridge structure - no pavement AT ALL...
There's some magic line that bisects northern states into north-south regions where only asphalt can be installed for roads built on the northern side of this line and on the southern side of the line, concrete can be installed. This is the civil-road engineers method to that allows road builders to use concrete for some roads and blacktop for others to allow for the ice-breakup-road phenomenon. Alas, mother nature plays us the fool and doesn't always follow this north-south division.
So far as avoiding the pothole... there are times when I'm not sure if I'm approaching a hole or a patch in the road... Taking evasive action when towing a horse trailer might be the worst thing to do... or who's to say that perhaps she DID tried to avoid the pothole, hit it anyway, and the combination of efforts was what created the accident?
I posted the article as a simple reminder that accidents CAN and DO happen. Hug your horse when you return from a safe trip.
gabz thank for pointing out the road conditions for north/south. a true "southener" may not have been away of that. i however only recently moved here having spent most of my time near chicago. and after running through potholes and destroying my share of tires/rims and never ending up in the ditch, i was simply equating the "pothole" to the mysterious "i was swerving to miss a deer" senerio. but i would also agree with the fact it was likely a series of events that lead to the wreck.
Posted 2005-08-25 4:11 PM (#29607 - in reply to #29606) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 455 Location: Ontario - east of TO
Originally written by gabz on 2005-08-25 4:17 PM
i was simply equating the "pothole" to the mysterious "i was swerving to miss a deer" senerio.
Gotcha..... I did that once.... to avoid a dog, or a fox, or a coyote...
he he he.. me too - Dog.... auh to be 16 and driving Mom's car again LOL.... that was one of those "exerperiance" mistakes
Reg... I'm also not too proud to abort a Dive... I have done that a few times... When you are requiring everything to go well to stay alive, you don't mess with it. I find a if a few things are off and I just don't feel good about it I get out of the water! better Safe than Sorry!
Posted 2005-08-28 6:25 AM (#29672 - in reply to #29565) Subject: RE: Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
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Posts: 2689
My son had several cases of a green pick up truck coming towards him that was "fish tailing", so he had to avoid it. It isn't clear whether it was always the same one (-:
In Mass we have a driver who "stops short" and provides everyone else with a reason to run off the road. I think its only one, though he/she really seems to get around. SOMEhow whoever it is manages to get the following car to follow within a few feet of their bumper before they suddenly brake and stop in about 1/4 of the distance possible under the prevailing laws of physics.
Not that Mass has ever accepted such laws as being constitutional...
Tragic trailering accident in Mass.
