Dangerous Sway

[nomad297]

Thanks for sharing your experience which prompted others to chime in with their experiences and advice as well. This will surely help many people.

However, nobody addressed the root of your particular situation — the blind spot. You should not have any blind spots. You should do whatever you have to do to ensure you have no blind spots for your safety and the safety of everybody else on the road. Either buy some better towing mirrors or adjust what you have now (if you have towing mirrors) so you can see everything around you.

I am dumbfounded by the number of people I see pulling trailers with mirrors on their tow vehicles that won’t allow them to see down the entire side of their trailer and into the adjacent lanes of road.

Bruce

[stephndudb]

Get a Hensley. Problem solved.

[CedarCreekWoody]

Hitting the manual trailer brake AND staying off the tow vehicle brakes is critical in the case of severe sway. Congratulations on getting it right! Very difficult to override the urge to stomp your brakes. This is when you wish they had a much larger button for the manual brake application.

[glsimms]

Originally Posted by stephndudb

Get a Hensley. Problem solved.

I wondered how long it would be before someone said get a ProPride or a Hensley.....

[Oaklevel]

Away swerve or fast maneuver can send any vehicle out of control.

[Dustyhd]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

Away swerve or fast maneuver can send any vehicle out of control.

That is true. But a sway event regardless driver induced or external should not amplify only dampen unless the combination is at or above it’s critical speed. Traveling at critical speed or above is dangerous regardless of which hitch you choose. The OP didn’t mention what speed he was traveling when it occurred.

[Archicamper]

Thanks for all the input. I do need to hit the scales. I was going about 40mph when this happened and was trying to lane change to avoid merging traffic. I do have towing mirrors that allow good vision of what is behind but when someone is beside you the only thing that helps is the fish eye mirror which I forget to check. My bad!

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by Archicamper

Thanks for all the input. I do need to hit the scales. I was going about 40mph when this happened and was trying to lane change to avoid merging traffic. I do have towing mirrors that allow good vision of what is behind but when someone is beside you the only thing that helps is the fish eye mirror which I forget to check. My bad!

I have been driving pickups and trailering various equipment and campers since the early 80s. I have become accustomed to using my convex mirrors as my primary mirrors — I always go to them first when checking left and right sides. I am so used to using mirrors, I forget I have a backup camera. I guess, one day, I will learn to remember I have that and use it once in a while.

Bruce