How safe are trailers in an accident?

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mystiandsunny

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Just wondering. If I get a trailer will get a Bateson and something like a Mitsubishi Pajero to pull it. Are you basically bargaining that nothing will go wrong and everyone around you will drive sensibly, or do they provide some protection?

Thing is, we could get a loan (can afford to borrow about £6000) and then have, say, £9000 for a lorry (have decided that renault masters probably aren't much safer than a trailer). Am wondering if that wouldn't be a much better idea.
 
I think that if you spend your time worrying about what other drivers may do you would never go out anywhere. I thought about a lorry for around the £8-10k mark but on looking around i saw loads of worn out junk to be honest. For considerably less money I now have a Bateson Deauville & a Pajero 2.8 LWB to tow it with. It tows beautifully & although it is heavy on diesel it is no heavier than a lorry & if anything happens to my car I still have the Pajero as a back up car while the other is fixed.

I only use the 4x4 like you would a lorry, it only goes out if I'm taking the horse somewhere.
 
Having had a horse that wrote off both a trailer and a lorry in a 12 month period I would say it all depends on the trailer and the lorry. the trailer was a Rice that I had borrowed - it had two horses in it that were used to travelling in both trailers and lorries but on this occasion one horse went mad - to this day I have no idea why. He smashed the trailer up around himself throwing it and my large 4x4 across three lanes of motorway traffic which luckily all stopped and allowed me to tow it to the hard shoulder. When I got out the back ramp had holes in it, the side had a hole 3ft square where the breast bar had ripped through the side as he came down on it, there were large holes in the roof. We had the motorway closed and had to lead the horses off one of which was totally uninjured - the other which had gone mad was cut all over. 9 months later the same horse destroyed a large 3 horse lorry. He was travelling quietly for about an hour - then lost the plot. It was a stick side and he managed to come out the side having kicked his way through. He destroyed two partitions and the whole of the offside of the lorry. And once again was cut all over.

I would because of this only buy an Ifor Williams trailer as I feel they are the only ones strong enough to withstand that kind of situation - I know it was a freak accident but it happened. I want to know I can get the breast bars out from outside and that the floor sides and ramp are substantial enough to keep my horse in. With my lorry I had the sides repaired with steel plates and then stock boarded on top. Not with the ply that is normally used. Nothing would have come out of my box when it was finished.

You cannot prepare for all eventualities, but you can buy the strongest trailer/lorry available and drive carefully.
 
I have been in an accident in a trailer and wouldn't recommend it. Trailer started doing that snakey thing they do when we were on the M1, apparently it can be caused by the grooves that the HGVs wear in the inside lane.

Anyhow, trailer flipped onto its side, taking the (brand new) Discovery with it, so we all had to climb out of the doors and jump off the side of the car, and then rip the ramp off the trailer (which had hit the barriers on the hard shoulder). This is also thanks to lots of strong men that ran down the motorway to help us. One horse standing, one lying down, took out one, and the other jumped itself out. Both were fine, as was the dog which was in the back of the car with saddles piled on top of it.

So would never travel in a trailer after this, I think accidents can be avoided much more in a horsebox.
 
i have seen nasty accident involving both. TBH i would rather have my ifor thats in good nick than a clapped out old lorry!! have TUI bar fitted - it strengthens a trailer no end!
 
OMG, these accidents sound horrific. I hope everyone was ok. I think accidents can happen in both tbh, but I would feel safer in a lorry. Although, like others have said, for the same money you can normally only find a clapped out old thing.
 
we had similar accident to the one described but the discovery blew a tyre started a snake which then tipped trailer which took the car over with it rolling the car. all at 20 mph. would never use a trailer again. but the build of the ifor williams was brilliant and the box bit was pretty much intact.
 
Erm, not so sure about Ifor Williams - had a 12.2hh pony kick a fastened rear ramp on my head a few years back - he didn't even have shoes on and it was only one kick... Can't bear to use a trailer now and won't use anything where the horses stand with their backlegs facing the ramp!
 
daisy crazy - think there must have been something seriously wrong with the trailer for an unshod 12.2 to kick out a correctly fastened Ifor ramp. My 17'2 can't do it and he is shod all round and one hell of a powerful animal. also have travelled a seriously bad traveller in my Ifor and not one iota of damage to it. Before that he had trashed his owners Bateson by repeatedly kicking the ramp and the floor. The Ifors are the only ones I would entirely trust in an accident as they are so solid.

Having had a large lorry trashed as well as my trailer I am quite comfortable travelling my horses in my Ifor, while I would love a nice lorry for the comfort I do not feel they are much safer than my trailer 4x4 combination.
 
Weve had 2 accidents with trailers, one was many many years ago on a country lane when a kid on a bike came out of a drive about 10ft infront of mum, she swerved to avoid the kid and managed to hit the ditch which flipped the car and the trailer over. the trailer had a fabric roof (see many years ago) and the horses were thrown through it. no one was hurt and the horses although shaken were fine.

the other was my nutty arab pitched a fit for some unknown reason whilst we were driving along a perfectly straight piece of road, we stopped and opened the jockey door to have a look, the arab was on the floor, arab decided that if i could fit through it so could he so he came under the breast bar and out through the jockey door (aLL 15HH of him). Brilliant ifor trailer ment that we removed bent door frame, jumped on it once and it pinged back into shape.

We also had a 16hh shod hunter attempt to turn the trailer over and kick his way out of the back of an Ifor, he had a good go for over an hour and couldnt get through it!

stencilface snaking is primarily caused by too much speed, answer to the problem is to slow down. It realy annoys me to see trailers going too fast as i've seen alot of nasty accidents cause by the trailer flipping due to too much speed and in some of those accidents the people or the horses did not get out alive.


I have to say it does feel safer in the lorry but i dont know how much extra protection there realy is between a trailer and a lorry.
 
snaking is not always due to speed. once the trailer starts snaking if it hits reasonance it takes over and so no matter what the driver does the trailer is in control - hence both trailer and car rolling as the snake increases. Oil on the road or deep lorry grooves can make a trailer snake without the driver driving too quickly and very quickly things can get out of control. When I was little I was in a trailer accident with a very experience, cautious driver. We were going slowly as it was an unknown road and twisty. The trailer started snaking and totally took over the car before we knew it we were over - everyone was fine but it was scarey.

Particular car trailer combinations are more prone to snaking than others. especially if you have a long trailer (like a rice) and a lightish 4x4 as the weight is distributed further back.

To be fair - i doubt there are many more accidents with trailers than there are with lorries. It's down to personal preference in the end and what you feel safe in.

A friend was in a lorry fire on the M4 recently (a very well looked after and serviced lorry). They very nearly lost the horse as it went up so fast - they would have had longer if it had been a car and trailer (plus the engine is further from the horses and the smoke would have been more visable). there was nothing left of the lorry (nor her tack) incredibly scary but not common thankfully.
 
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