starting january 1st

[zooker]

nc will start enforcing the trailer inspection laws. the laws are there just no one is enforcing them now..i guess the state finally found a way to get more money out of us anglers.. in stead of the trailer lisence stickers were are required to get now we will get a yearly inspection sticker..at $32.50 a year..

inspection covers nearly all options on the trailers. such as all lights,tire tread depth,brakes-if equiped-,and proper reflective tape usage..

think about it guys how many trailers do you see on the roads with out lights?? and i don't just mean boat trailers either..

zooker

[WTL]

Whew. I'm lucky alabama is so backwards....

[Stinkies Daddy]

Here in Arkansas you register your trailer 1 time for the entire time you own it

[Ron Melancon]

When you get a moment please go to www.dangeroustrailers.org. Let's be honest... most people do NOT know how to tow. The lights do not work, they don't use the safety chains and they do not put the pin in the hole. What is worse is anybody can build them without no inspections.

Your State just had an accident with a Hay ride trailer:

Dangerous Trailers.org is very concerned to learn about another incident involving a towing trailer accident.

Please know that:

Guilford County, NC - A ten-year-old boy has broken bones and a blood clot on his brain after a crash involving a hayride, according to Highway Patrol Trooper T.G. Wilson.

The boy was one of six kids taken to local hospitals Saturday night. The injured kids range in age from 10-14, according to a firefighter. He said four were taken to Moses Cone, two went to High Point Regional.

Someone hit a trailer carrying 22 football players and cheerleaders from Southern Guilford Middle School.

It happened around 8 p.m. on Groometown Road near Highway 62.

A firefighter says someone in a Saturn hit the trailer from behind, and then a truck hit that car.

Several kids were ejected from the trailer. The ten year old most seriously injured was pinned between the trailer and car.

"He went over to that side of the road, but another truck was coming down that way, so he had to swerve back over here and he hit us in the back," said Owen Short, who was on the ride.

"There was about five people down, four of them on the side, and there's a little boy who was laying beside the car, screaming and hollering," said Zachary Deweese who was on the ride.

Highway Patrol told WFMY News 2 the tractor did have lights. The lights, however, were small and not the proper equipment needed for driving the tractor on the road. The proper equipment was on the tractor, but not hooked up.

Parents told WFMY News 2 that the lights were working as she saw the trailer leave for the hayride.

Trooper Tim Wilson said Garry Thayer, 55, the driver of the tractor will be issued a citation for not having the lights on. That citation is approximately $150.

The driver who hit the trailer will not face any charges. Wilson said the driver was going below the speed limit.

Wilson said there is no law preventing hayrides on roads. He said many hayrides spend only short periods of time on roads.

The injuries that were caused simply should not have happened. Let me share with you a bit of information about what is taking place on our roads so you will better understand why something needs to be done about keeping the motoring public save from a trailer letting loose

Every WEEK In the United States 418 injuries, 8 deaths and 775 incidences of property damages are caused by passenger vehicles towing trailers occur EACH WEEK (Figures are final numbers from date from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSTA 2007).

In fact trailers that are just one pound under 3,000 pounds are not regulated in most states.
The statement below is just an example of this total lack of oversight.
"VIRGINIA STATE CODE IS SILENT AS TO ANY DESIGN OR
CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS FOR THOSE VEHICLES OR FOR TOWING
CHAINS AND HITCHES" (Trailers under 3,000) (VCU Crash Team http://www.dangeroustrailers.org/uploads/TA14new.pdf )


The Utility Trailer industry has continued to stop any attempts to improve this class of vehicle in all 50 states including not requiring a Federal Standard on trailer hitches since 1972.

It is the mission of Dangerous Trailers.org to bring a new national standard implemented to improve, reduce or eliminate deaths and injuries due to trailers coming loose while being transported.

This mission also includes the "Trailer Sway Phenomena", excessive speed, trailers in parades, hay rides and
rentals.

So I guess in Arkansas it is not your responsibilty to maintain your trailer.

Also this just happend...:

Accident kills horse, injures woman
Loose trailer strikes pickup towing animals.

By JOE MEYER of the Tribune’s staff
Published Friday, November 7, 2008

A Rocheport woman is recovering from a weekend wreck that killed a horse on Highway 40 after a utility trailer detached from another vehicle and struck the pickup she was driving on her way to a horse show.

The wreck occurred Saturday morning as Lisa Morrissey, 36, was towing a horse trailer behind a Ford pickup. The trailer overturned, and authorities euthanized one of the horses, a thoroughbred hunter-jumper. Another horse suffered injuries to a leg but survived the collision.

Morrissey remains hospitalized at University Hospital and was listed in good condition today. Family and friends said she is recovering from a shattered femur, broken pelvis and broken collarbone.

Morrissey’s niece, 14-year-old Jordan Husa, and her friend, 13-year-old Alexis Tolch, were treated and released from the hospital.

So you must all be saying what why am I doing this... I must be making money.

Well guess what??? I have taped out my home's equity to keep up the fight and I have
not gained one cent except to make a difference and save lives.

While you were using your lines of credit buying big boats... big Televisions and going on vacations.. I was using my money to bring attention to this un regulated trailer industry.

Just making a trailer weigh just one pound under 3,000 pounds does not make it in my book. The company called Carry On trailers has tried to un do my reflector tape law in Virginia and they have spent over 10,000 trying to do it just to save about $8.00 dollars.

Look for yourself on my web site: Here is the evidence....

Pollard is also taking heat from transportation safety advocates who opposed his draft legislation to exempt mesh trailers under three thousand pounds from state inspection. Traditionally, Virginia legislation required that trailers weighing less than 3,000 pounds have either two or more reflectors of an approved type, or at least 100 square inches of reflective material, to outline the rear end of the trailer. In 2005, Pollard patroned legislation which would have redefined a utility trailer so as to exempt it entirely from the requirements of approved reflectors or reflectorized material to outline the trailer. Pollard’s bill (HB4290) defined a utility trailer as a device “whose body and tailgate consist largely or exclusively of mesh and whose end extends 18 inches or more beyond its tail lights.”

In 2005, the year of Pollard’s bill to reduce regulation of utility trailers, he received more than $3,200 in campaign money from Richmond and national lobbyists for transportation interests, including independent auto dealers and trucking interests, according to records maintained by the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP.org). Public safety crusader Ron Melancon, who successfully lobbied to remove Pollard’s definition of a utility trailer from the final bill, accuses Pollard of acting at the behest of the trucking and transportation industry to the detriment of public safety.

In an interview this week, Melancon noted that under Pollard’s attempted legal change, anyone could build a trailer under 3,000 pounds without any inspection requirement or trailer-outlining reflection. Campaigning on behalf of public-safety interests in 2005, Melancon convinced senators that under Pollard’s bill, one could have a mile-long trailer with only a single set of tail lights positioned 18 inches from the bumper. Melancon keeps a registry of all of the accidents involving defective utility trailers at www.dangeroustrailers.com, and his registry now includes the recent Bay Bridge accident that claimed three lives this spring. In 2005, the State Senate’s focus on examples of the evident danger doomed Pollard’s attempt to relax safety standards.


And here is more money being paid to Delegate Whittman to stop anymore improvements to the law...

Wittman for Delegate

Donor: Carry-on Trailer Inc
Lavonia, GA
Occupation: Miscellaneous Manufacturing

Amount Transaction Date Type
$2,500 03/21/07 Cash


Wittman for Delegate

Donor: Carry-on Trailer Inc
Lavonia, GA
Occupation: Miscellaneous Manufacturing

Amount Transaction Date Type
$2,500 09/27/05 Cash


Wittman for Delegate

Donor: Va Auto Dealers Assn
Richmond, VA
Occupation: Auto Dealers


Amount Transaction Date Type
$1,500 04/18/05 Cash

The 2005 cycle for this committee starts January 1, 2004 and ends December 31, 2005.

Wittman for Delegate

Donor: Va Auto Dealers Assn
Richmond, VA
Occupation: Auto Dealers


Amount Transaction Date Type
$1,000 09/27/07 Cash
$213 04/12/07 Inkind: Breakfast
$250 11/15/06 Cash

Contributions data for this committee are current through November 29, 2007, for reports filed on December 6, 2007. The 2007 cycle for this committee starts January 1, 2006 and ends December 31, 2007.

Wittman for Delegate

Donor: Va Independent Auto Dealers
Virginia Beach, VA
Occupation: Auto Dealers


Amount Transaction Date Type
$500 09/22/07 Cash

Contributions data for this committee are current through November 29, 2007, for reports filed on December 6, 2007. The 2007 cycle for this committee starts January 1, 2006 and ends December 31, 2007.


Wittman for Delegate

Donor: Ford Motor Co
Dearborn, MI
Occupation: Auto Manufacturers


Amount Transaction Date Type
$250 08/24/06 Cash

Contributions data for this committee are current through November 29, 2007, for reports filed on December 6, 2007. The 2007 cycle for this committee starts January 1, 2006 and ends December 31, 2007.
Wittman for Delegate

Donor: Nationwide Insurance Co
Columbus, OH
Occupation: Insurance Companies


Amount Transaction Date Type
$250 09/17/07 Cash

Contributions data for this committee are current through November 29, 2007, for reports filed on December 6, 2007. The 2007 cycle for this committee starts January 1, 2006 and ends December 31, 2007.


Wittman for Delegate

Donor: Va Trucking Assn
Richmond, VA
Occupation: Trucking Companies


Amount Transaction Date Type
$250 12/31/06 Cash

Contributions data for this committee are current through November 29, 2007, for reports filed on December 6, 2007. The 2007 cycle for this committee starts January 1, 2006 and ends December 31, 2007.

Wittman for Delegate

Donor: GEICO
Washington, DC
Occupation: Insurance Companies


Amount Transaction Date Type
$150 11/01/07 Cash

Contributions data for this committee are current through November 29, 2007, for reports filed on December 6, 2007. The 2007 cycle for this committee starts January 1, 2006 and ends December 31, 2007.



So go ahead and call me what ever you want..... but look at this... somebody might have murdered a person by a loose trailer and they did not stop...


This happend in North Carolina:

7/15/2006 - Hit and Run Near Lake Wylie

Officers need your help in locating the driver of a pickup truck that caused a very serious traffic accident, and then fled the accident scene.
On July 15, 2006, the male driver of a black or dark blue, 1980’s model Ford F150 truck was towing a trailer on Hwy 49, near Lake Wylie. On the trailer was an older model 4-weeler that was in poor condition and it appeared to have had parts removed from it. The trailer was homemade and consisted of metal beams and mobile home axles; the trailer was also in poor condition. This trailer came lose from the truck towing it and stuck another vehicle. According to witnesses, the driver of the truck turned around as if to come back to the accident, but then he fled, leaving the 60 year-old driver of the other vehicle pinned in her crushed car. The victim was air lifted with life threatening injuries.


The life I might save may be you.... the person who is reading this.

Ron

[Ron Melancon]

Nearly 50 percent (47%) of those towing boats didn't properly cross
their safety chains under the coupler. Properly crossed safety chains
form a cradle to catch a trailer if it becomes unhitched and prevent
it from falling onto the road where it can cause severe vehicle and
trailer damage as well as accidents and injuries.

Nearly 50 percent (48%) of respondents towing boats use only a non-
locking receiver pin to connect their trailer, which is susceptible to
tampering.

A majority (51%) of Americans who tow campers, boats or trailers with
ATVs/jet skis/motorcycles do not use the recommended security methods
of a locking device for their coupler and hitch.

More than 50 percent (53%) of towing vehicles and trailers received
only moderate or poor rankings on their electrical systems, which
means that brake lights, turn signals and reverse lights may not work
properly. Additionally, frayed and exposed wires pose a significant
danger. Boat trailers presented the greatest danger, with 17 percent
of their electrical systems in poor or extremely poor condition.



New Study of Americans Who Tow Finds Many Lack Recommended Safety Precautions While Towing Accidents, Deaths are on the Rise

MILWAUKEE, Aug. 25 -- You've seen them on the highway -- the oversized boat on a too-small trailer, the overloaded pickup with its cargo ready to topple into the roadway and the rickety camper swaying across the lanes. But did you know the danger they present to motorists around them? Or that many of the Americans who tow don't follow recommended safety precautions?

A new study, "Towing Troubles: Danger on America's Road", from Customer Profiles, Ltd., and Master Lock, tracks the safety -- or lack thereof -- of the vehicles and trailers being towed on the roadways of America. While sales of campers, boats, ATVs and motorcycles are all on the rise, so are accidents involving the towing of these recreational vehicles.

Some 57,000 crashes involving passenger vehicles towing trailers occur annually, according to five-year averages of accident analysis by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association. In 2003 alone, accidents with trailing vehicles resulted in 364 deaths, 14,484 injuries and 40,080 instances of property damage. Both the numbers of deaths and property damages increased in 2003 from the previous year.

The primary dangers on the roadways include towed trailers that get loose, trailers that sway and cause the towing vehicle to lose control, trailers that blow tires and cause the towing vehicle to wreck and improperly tied-down cargo that breaks loose and falls into the roadway, causing accidents for other motorists.

According to Sherline Products Inc., which manufactures trailer tongue weight scales for the towing industry, a customer reported this harrowing experience: "I had a small travel trailer and loaded a number of heavy 5-gallon drinking water bottles in the very back where they would be out of the way during a trip," he said. "After speeding up to pass a truck, I pulled back into my lane and the trailer went into an uncontrollable oscillation. My family was terrified as the car and trailer pitched from one shoulder to the other. I was very lucky to regain control before the rig flipped or went head-on into another vehicle. I just didn't know how dangerous it was or how to load the trailer correctly."

Many Americans Don't Know How to Tow

The study, which included more than 500 safety inspections of campers, boating trailers and RVs around the country, found that many Americans who tow don't follow recommended safety precautions and don't properly prepare their towing vehicles before they hit the road. Key findings include:

-- A majority (51%) of Americans who tow campers, boats or trailers with
ATVs/jet skis/motorcycles do not use the recommended security methods
of a locking device for their coupler and hitch.

-- Nearly 50 percent (48%) of respondents towing boats use only a non-
locking receiver pin to connect their trailer, which is susceptible to
tampering.

-- Respondents towing campers had the best approach to safety, with 69
percent using both locks and pins to secure their vehicles, 69 percent
using weight distribution systems, 71 percent using appropriately
crossed security chains and 52 percent having a properly leveled
trailer.

-- Nearly 50 percent (47%) of those towing boats didn't properly cross
their safety chains under the coupler. Properly crossed safety chains
form a cradle to catch a trailer if it becomes unhitched and prevent
it from falling onto the road where it can cause severe vehicle and
trailer damage as well as accidents and injuries.

-- A majority of respondents towing boats or ATVs/jet skis/motorcycles
achieved a moderate or worse ranking on the levelness of their
trailer. For ATVs/jet skis/motorcycles, 15 percent were ranked poor
or extremely poor. An unleveled trailer will reduce the driver's
control of the vehicle and may cause the trailer and consequently the
vehicle to fishtail.

-- More than 50 percent (53%) of towing vehicles and trailers received
only moderate or poor rankings on their electrical systems, which
means that brake lights, turn signals and reverse lights may not work
properly. Additionally, frayed and exposed wires pose a significant
danger. Boat trailers presented the greatest danger, with 17 percent
of their electrical systems in poor or extremely poor condition.

-- Trailer tires are one of the biggest dangers on the road, with 41
percent of tires in only moderate or worse condition. Some 10 percent
of boat trailers had tires in poor or extremely poor condition. Worn,
under-inflated and dry-rotted tires can blow under highway conditions,
leading to dangerous accidents. Forty percent of accidents involving
a passenger vehicle towing a trailer are due to faulty tires.

Cargo strapped to vehicles also is an issue. From items carried in the back of pickups to coolers latched to the back of campers to luggage on the top of the family minivan, carrying cargo requires properly placed tie-downs and high-quality bungee cords.

-- Security of cargo on the trailers also is an issue, with more than 54
percent of campers, 28 percent of ATVs/jet skis/motorcycles and 49
percent of boats ranking as moderate or worse in their cargo security.

-- The security of additional cargo -- loaded in the boats or campers --
was a significant issue, with 32 percent of respondents ranking
moderate and 40 percent ranking poor or extremely poor. This means
coolers, lawn chairs, bicycles, and other typical cargo could easily
fall into the path of an oncoming car.

-- The condition of bungee cords was a major issue -- while 56 percent
were in excellent condition and properly located to hold the cargo, 44
percent were in moderate or poor condition and improperly located --
meaning cords could easily snap or come unhooked and release cargo
onto the roadway.

-- Ratchet tie-downs were a problem for 39 percent of respondents, as
those towing boats or ATVs/jet skis/motorcycles received moderate or
worse marks for the condition and location of the tie-downs securing
their cargo.

The "Towing Troubles" study was conducted with a representative sample of 523 respondents. Master Lock Tow Pros conducted inspections of vehicles towing a trailer, camper, or other items at NASCAR facilities, campgrounds, and boating destinations in June and July 2005. A copy of the inspection checklist was provided to the vehicle owner with safety recommendations.

[quenston]

I am a Okie and we dont have inspections on anything here and that kinda makes me nervous! There are some people down here that has boats that shouldnt even be allowed on the lakes, and they sure dont need to be on the roads! But on the good side IF and I mean if you happen to see a highway patrol they are usually pretty good about taking care of the situation.

[Captmikestarrett]

Register it in Maine.

http://maine.gov/sos/news/2007/StatewideTrailer.html

It is the way to go..

Capt Mike

[Bob Smith]

Wow, Ron! That's a lot of information.

I don't know if it warrants more legislation, no if it warrants special state inspection activity. I think awareness and personal responsibility come into play here, but I do not support more government intervention.

[Bender]

That $32.50 is a lot per year! How much do you have to pay for vehicle inspections there?
I agree that a lot of it is personal responsibility. Up here I have heard that sometimes the coastguard will give you a free vessel inspection at some of the ramps before you head out (and potentially get into trouble on the water or get pulled over and ticketed for a violation). That seems like a better idea to me.

[zooker]

the same


zooker

[woody]

That reminds me, I still have to transfer my boat and trailer Titles...Oh I might as well wait till spring and just pay the $10 late fee.