After a good nights sleep. Then tipping.
I headed out of Hulme Manchester yesterday morning.
The road was wet from the nights rain, My tyres were cold as i had just set off.
I went round a cyclist, Then started slowing for a red light, I was only doing about 20mph. Then that’s when it happend.
I saw the trailer coming round on my nearside, I took my foot off the brake, accelorated then braked again. Problem solved.
What i couldn’t stop thinking about was.
What if i overtook the cyclist a little later? Dead probably.
What if i didn’t leave the 100 yard gap between me and the car in front?
I class myself as a good driver. But it’s a wakeup call to say
Don’t let yourself become complacent.
Could be was there something else on the road surface such as spilt fuel and it would only take the trailer not to be exactly in line to cause it to come around - same for excess rubber deposits on the road - you did say it was approaching lights.
It sounds like you coped very well with the situation and, as far as I can tell, there was nothing you could have done to prevent it.
I think, on the evidence of that, you are.
Not to be too pedantic though, that wasn’t really a jack-knife but trailer swing. The latter is when your trailer wheels lock up (you were empty, right?), the former when the drive axle locks up and the trailer continues in a straight line pushing the unit out of the way. Much more difficult to control.
Nonetheless, well done.
It’s happened to me a few times over the years…most memorable was in the early 90’s when the 1st Gulf war was on. I was on for a container firm in Normanton (Sanmar if anyone’s old enough to remember ), and a few of us were sent over to Liverpool on a Saturday morning to load razorwire from a military base to be sent out to our lads in the Gulf.
Anyway, it was a cold morning and there was frost about. I pulled onto Birch Services to get some ■■■■ and went romping across the almost empty truck park. Put my foot on the brake (old Merc 1628 SK cab and 40’ trailer…no ABS anywhere!), looked in the mirror…NO TRAILER!..looked in the other mirror… FULL OF TRAILER! It was almost at 90 degrees to the unit! I did the same, foot off brake, gentle on the power to straighten it out, came to a nice stop, very neatly and trailer in line with the unit outside the garage shop, nasty shocker mate and my trousers were very nearly brown
The funny bit is that the lad behind me thought I’d done it deliberately to show off…he told me he thought I was the best driver he’d ever seen and I’m ashamed to say, I let him believe it!
Shrek:
Anyway, it was a cold morning and there was frost about. I pulled onto Birch Services to get some ■■■■ and went romping across the almost empty truck park. Put my foot on the brake (old Merc 1628 SK cab and 40’ trailer…no ABS anywhere!), looked in the mirror…NO TRAILER!..looked in the other mirror… FULL OF TRAILER! It was almost at 90 degrees to the unit! I did the same, foot off brake, gentle on the power to straighten it out, came to a nice stop, very neatly and trailer in line with the unit outside the garage shop …
… jumped out of cab, slipped shades on, strolled over to shop, cool as a mule.
i often do that weaving from side to side first thing on a morning, just for a few miles to warm them up, doesn,t half annoy all the other drivers on the A1 though,they all think i,ve dropped my phone or something
So does that mean that driving with the ABS light showing orange would make this kind of thing dangerous, as i often drive with the abs on orange because im told that its safe…sound like it isnt
he didnt jacknife in the true sense of the word, his trailer wheels just locked up and the trailer comes sliding round, a proper jacknife is when the force of the trailer pushes the tractor unit round usually when the tractors braking and the trailer isnt, well that what used to happen in the good old days
■■■■■■00:
so if its not working does that mean that limyphil could have had a jack knife
Not having ABS doesn’t mean you’ll be jack knifing or getting trailer swing at every touch of the brake pedal.
ABS is a fairly recent phenomenon, we’ve only had it for about 10 years.
Although jack knifing happened more often before ABS, it still wasn’t an everyday occurance.
So in short, no Limeyphil was very unlikely to have had a jack knife.
He did exactly what any driver worth their salt should do in those circumstances.
