Friendly reminder/advice...whatever

[Paddletrucker]

I wanted to share this, even though you guys are probably ahead of me on this and don't need the reminder, but I'll do it anyway. Just incase.

Last night, a guy I know and I were pulling multiple trailers back from Dallas. I had stopped in southern OK to pick up a third trailer and he was pulling two. SO here we went headed home, me with triples and him with doubles.

We got into an area that has some construction and some portions that are only a single lane in each direction. He was ahead of me, because he was faster only pulling doubles. I thought he was going a little too fast, but what the hey, he's been driving tractor/trailers a lot longer than me. My third trailer was really wiggling around and his doubless looked to be pulling a lot better and I suppose he felt comfy running a little over the speed limit. So, I had let him stay in front of me the whole way. That left me with a front row seat for what happened next.

Next thing I know, he's got his second trailer hooked in the soft dirt off of the road. With a little too much speed for the conditions, both trailers and his tractor were slowly, but steadily, drug off the pavement to the right. After all of the tires on the drivers side made it into the dirt, the whole rig flipped onto it's side in the median. I stopped (of course) and went running up to his truck and saw him lying in his side on the driver's door, still strapped securely in place by his seat belt. He was unconscious, though. The roll over was slow and gentle as they go, and I was honestly surprised to NOT see him trying to get out. The glass wasn't even broken on any of the windows, and I had to climb up the underside of the truck to get in on the passenger side, which was up.

I was trying to find a good way to climb up, and doing a piss poor job really. I didn't make it all the way up to the passenger door before a highway patrolman who is a lot younger, and skinnier, than me came out of nowhere and passed me up the side of the truck and told me to get down and that he'd go in the truck. Once in, he kicked the windshield out and it came out in one piece without breaking, but it took him a few kicks. By that time paramedics had arrived. I can't believe how fast those guys showed up! It was unbelievable. They must've been very close by coincidence. I didn't even call it in. I'm sure another motorist did. That should have been the first thing I did. They got him out and loaded him up and took off. He regained consciousness on the way to the hospital, but has head and neck injuries. He says his arms and hands are tingling like they've gone to sleep and haven't stopped. they're gonna keep him and do some tests and hopefully nothing is too seriously wrong.

So why do I tell that story on a Jeep site? Well, his roll over wasn't a bad one as far as they go. Damage to the truck was minimal, for the accident, and more damage was done during the recovery than the accident. The driver was buckled in his seat and knew he was going to do a barrel roll, so he leaned away from the door in fear of the window breaking when it contacted the ground. It didn't, though. What caused the problem was a small, loaded refrigerator and a three foot long heavy tool box that was stuffed with tools. The microwave came off of the top shelf of the sleeper on the passenger side and the tool box came out from under the bed. The fridge hit him on the side of the head and the tool box nailed him under his right arm.

I'm as guilty as anyone of having all kinds of crap in the floor of my pickup, and my semi. As a matter of fact, I too have a big heavy tool box sitting between my seats in the big truck with a board I put in there on top of the tool box that has drink holders screwed to it. I don't know what it weighs, but I know I can't lift it with one hand. I doubt I want to get crowned with it if I accidentally try any aerobatics with the Freightliner. I'm as bad in my pickup. I have a mini BassPro store in a big tackle box in my passenger side floor board and all kinds of kayaking stuff in the back seat right now. That's all been moved already this morning.

When I start on my Jeep, I don't plan on any serious off roading. I primarily wanted it as a daily driver and for camping and fishing, but the more I read about off road fun and go with my buddy in his TJ, the more I'm thinking I might spend a little more time enjoying that with my XJ. I know I'll be carrying stuff with me. I already know of about five things I will be keeping in the Jeep that I absolutely don't want to get smacked with at all.

I know that driving off road can carry an elevated risk of a rollover. Even a soft one that happens really slow could hurt real bad if something kings me from behind somehow. The rollover I witnessed took place in a 45 mph zone. He was going faster, but had slowed down significantly before it went over. I'm SURE if he hadn't got his clock cleaned by the fridge and the tool box, he'd have not gone to the hospital at all.

Anyway. Sorry for the long post and I know that you probably already take precautions to secure everything in your off road toy, but I hadn't really given it a lot of thought, so I thought I'd post it anyway as a friendly reminder. This stuff is just too much fun to take unnecessary risks.