John Fulton
Member
Thread about tractor sliding on ice got me to thinking, we have all had numerous near-miss accidents that may still haunt our memory.
One that sticks out in my mind is when I borrowed a 16 ft. trailer to haul some used power poles from power company about 20 miles from farm. The trailer did not have brakes. When I got to power company pole yard there was just one employee on duty there who I coerced to help me load the poles by hand. I had parked the trailer next to the poles so that the butt end was toward the rear of the trailer, and we just laid them over onto the bed of trailer, even though I knew better than to do so. But when you are working with volunteer help, you tend to not do things as they should be done. Anyhow, I chained the poles down and paid, and was on my way. Well about 2 miles from town as I was going down small grade, the trailer started to fishtail. Dumb me, instead of accelerating, I hit the brakes, causing truck and trailer to do a 180. As luck would have it, I did not go off the road over a 20 ft bank, nor hit any on-coming traffic, nor spill any poles onto the road. Only damage was to a trailer wheel and tire which I had to replace. I drive by this hill quite often and always think what might have been. BTW, there are now guard-rails on that section.
One that sticks out in my mind is when I borrowed a 16 ft. trailer to haul some used power poles from power company about 20 miles from farm. The trailer did not have brakes. When I got to power company pole yard there was just one employee on duty there who I coerced to help me load the poles by hand. I had parked the trailer next to the poles so that the butt end was toward the rear of the trailer, and we just laid them over onto the bed of trailer, even though I knew better than to do so. But when you are working with volunteer help, you tend to not do things as they should be done. Anyhow, I chained the poles down and paid, and was on my way. Well about 2 miles from town as I was going down small grade, the trailer started to fishtail. Dumb me, instead of accelerating, I hit the brakes, causing truck and trailer to do a 180. As luck would have it, I did not go off the road over a 20 ft bank, nor hit any on-coming traffic, nor spill any poles onto the road. Only damage was to a trailer wheel and tire which I had to replace. I drive by this hill quite often and always think what might have been. BTW, there are now guard-rails on that section.