Man kills boat *pics*

[Southpaw]

So I'm on my way home from work in Gaithersburg, MD. I'm on the outer loop of the capital beltway and I'm about an 1/8 mile away from the Amercian Legion bridge(this spans the Potomac River that seperates VA. from MD.) All of a sudden on the bridge in front of me I see sparks spraying all over the place like crazy , then a boat trailer(with no boat on it, mind you) comes flying across, yeah FLYING across all 4 lanes of traffic at about 60 mph, hits the outside wall of the bridge, and then comes flying back across all 4 lanes again in the opposite direction.
Traffic slowed and crept by on the right as everything came to rest in the left lane again.
I was the only one to stop and offer help.
I pulled up behind the boat. The boat was behind the guys truck, on the pavement, and the boat trailer was in front of the guys truck. His wife was in the truck so she called 911 and I helped him clean up the highway a little. There were tie-down straps, trailer fenders, and all kinds of crap all over. After that was done, I hook my chain(always have one) to the front of his boat and dragged it out of the other lane of traffic so people could get by.
The guy had a pretty good sense of humor about it considering....We laughed about wether or not we should just try and push it over the edge of the bridge into the Potomac or not. Its hard to tell, but the boat is TOAST. He was taking it down to NC where he just finished building a house, and that was going to be where the boat stayed. Not anymore
Bad news for him, but the good news is that somehow by the Grace of God, nobody was hurt. This could've been a real bad disaster. Especially being that it happened on a bridge too. That trailer was going so fast when crossed all the lanes, and then all the way back, It's amazing that it didn't hit anything or anyone.

Pretty crazy ride home.

Anyway, since....

here ya go....

[03f250stroke]

thats crazy!

[2006PSDSD]

How did the trailer come loose from the truck?

Glad nobody was hurt

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by 2006PSDSD

How did the trailer come loose from the truck?

Glad nobody was hurt

IDK how.

Operator error i'm guessing

I think the guy probably forgot to latch the trailer onto the ball, hit a big bump(they are paving that section of the beltway) and the trailer tounge jumped off the ball. That would explain all of the sparks I saw. Then he either didn't have the saftey chains hooked or they broke. I don't know which.

To hear him tell it, he says to me..."I don't know what happened. My boat passed me and my trailer exploded!"

[wriott]

crazy, glad on one got hurt

[2006PSDSD]

What a maroon! That's elementry when pulling a trailer, check your lights, latch the ball, and attach safety chains

[05_PSD_Erik]

I am so glad no one got hurt. Not trying to bash this particular guy, BUT...


This, IMHO, is further proof that you should have to have an endorsement on your license to pull a trailer of ANY size. Just I have seen a LOT of wrecks with trailers around here lately it was almost always caused by head up the arse, don;t know how to operate a vehicle while towing.... Had an exchange student from Japan I believe traveling near my in-laws house with a U-haul, traailer got away from him, Father-in-law responded as police, said rice was EVERYWHERE! lol (no joke)

[mudrunninpig]

so glad no one got hurt. Thats a crazy story.

[t613]

Thanks for stopping and helping him out. Probably felt like a boob for losing the trailer, but a worse feeling when traffic goes whizzing by and nobody cares or stops to help.

For him, Thank you.

Tim

[powerstrokin87]

Thats funny, that happened in my patrol area but i was just coming on so one of the night shift guys handled it. Would have been cool to see a fellow org member while i was at work. Do you travel though montgomery county often?