NOTE: This is a worldwide Issue.
These Videos All Have the Same Issue... but nobody does anything...
http://dangeroustrailersviedos.blogspot.com/2009/02/documentary-featured-in-bbc-finlay.html
http://dangeroustrailersviedos.blogspot.com/2009/04/stunning-news-report-from-1997.html
http://dangeroustrailersaccidentsthatjust.blogspot.com/2008/12/route-19-crash-victim-i-lost-very-good.html
Why?
NO inspections on trailers under 3,000 pounds in most of the world.
Anybody can build one and nobody has a standard.
The questions must be asked... why?
It is all because of profit. If a company spends resources building the best trailer tow bar and it cost X... and the consumer does not understand and see's Trailer Tow Bar "Y" for much less then can you take a guess what the consumer will buy.
This is the fundamental issue we face. Just like a Utility Trailer that cost $1,000 but it has the best of everything and is tested to last....
If a company like in this example "Carry On Trailers" can produce a trailer for $499 because it uses no reflector tape... and does not encase the wires in a plastic tube and uses a lower grade of metal then you as a consumer will buy the cheaper trailer.
In the above example "Carry On Trailers" lobbied to destroy the "Virginia Reflector Tape Law" along with U Haul because it cost $10.00 to comply and in the process has pushed my family in financial ruin.
They will simply out spend a noble cause.
What about Safety Chains?
Calls for stricter towbar laws after fatality
Thu, 20 Aug 2009 6:28p.m.
By Adam Ray
A coroner has called for mandatory guidelines to improve the safety of towbars after a New Plymouth father was killed when a boat and trailer came loose.
The coroner's recommendations have won the support of the man's widow and the towbar industry itself.
Donovan Shelver was killed as he drove home from cricket practice - his car was hit by a trailer carrying a boat after its snapped.
His widow says towbar safety standards just aren't tough enough.
"It to my mind is idiotic that anybody can fit a towbar even if manufactured elsewhere you can come home and fit it...there should be some rules around that," says Kate Shelver.
A coroner who examined Shelver's death has also criticised towbar safety standards.
They're voluntary at the moment, and the coroner says they should be mandatory with random inspections of manufacturers.
Shelver's death is one of dozens involving light trailers in recent years.
Transport Minstry figures show eight people were killed and thirty nine injured from crashes with light trailers last year.
In the four years before that, an average of six people were killed.
Towbar makers say more than half of New Zealand cars have them - one of the highest rates in the world - so there's an urgent need for tougher rules
"There a lot of towing done so it means there's a lot of opportunity for failure and risk to the innocent New Zealand motorist," says John Nash of Best Bars.
The industry says drivers can lower the risks by dealing with recognised firms and looking for safety labels and they warn against buying second hand towbars without knowing their history.
"And so the towbar might be fitted correctly but its been cracked or fractured in a previous accident," says John Delacey of North Shore Towbars.
The government told 3 News that it's now reviewing the coroner's report and his call for compulsory standards.
3 News
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