Summer Is Time to Focus on Trailer Safety

It’s the right time to warn Texans about the hundreds of people who are killed every year in accidents involving runaway trailers. It’s not just that there are more numbers of Americans who plan a move in June, July and August, but also the fact that during this time of year, people are more likely to be towing boats and other recreational gear in trailers.

According to dangeroustrailers.org, since 1975, in Texas alone, a total of 2,165 people have been killed in accidents that resulted when a trailer came loose from a vehicle and crashed into incoming traffic. These fatalities cost the state more than $5 billion in damages. The injury toll in these accidents over the past couple of decades has been equally high. Since 1988, the injury toll in Texas has touched 65,657, costing the state more than $320 million. The economic cost from property damage resulting from these trailer accidents has crossed $101 million.

In Texas, there are laws that require safety chains to secure trailers to a vehicle and prevent them from coming loose. However, there are no specifications about the design or the kind of strength the safety chain must have. In the absence of specifications like these, inadequately designed or poorly manufactured safety chains may be used to secure trailers, and these may do little to prevent the trailer from coming loose.

A massive trailer coming loose from a car ahead of you and aimed right at your vehicle -it’s a nightmare scenario, and unfortunately for hundreds of people around the country every year, the nightmare does come true. A piece of advice from a Texas injury lawyer – If you’re hitching a trailer to your vehicle, make sure that the trailer is properly secured with safety chains.