This picture is from the local newspaper.

I do not tow, but am interested that this shows the safety link just loosely clipped around towing hook, is this recommended?

Also doesn't the caravan towing hitch have some kind of safety device to stop that lever popping up and releasing?




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FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
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The "safety link" you refer to is generally called the "breakaway cable" and is intended to pull on the trailer brake should the hitch fail in any way. It SHOULD be connected to something solid other than the tow ball, since the failure could be in the ball, but many vehicle makers do not provide anything and the concensus in the industry is that around a swan neck towball is better than not at all.

The handle cannot pop up. It works on the lug that fits beneath the ball and is kept in place by spring pressure. What can, and often does, happen is that the person doing the coupling does not pull the handle up fully when hitching and the coupling head sits atop the ball but without the lug being below the ball. One can tow quite a distance like this before it jumps off - a full journey even. It is recomended to use the jockey wheel to raise both trailer and tow vehicle once the coupling is joined as a test. Everyone can spread it - Anyone can catch it. Stay home - the life you save can be your own!

Navigator is spot on, I've seen artic trailers come off miles into their trip because the driver didn't lock/check before setting off.
MOT test's, which I have no problem with if the government bring them in, will have no effect on human error when hooking up unfortunately.
any report on percentage of vehicles checked had defects is always higher than the actual total on the road because they only stop old/suspicious vehicles. Common sense isn't very common.
_______________________________
2007 Land Rover Freelander2 I6 hse Auto

50% deemed to be faulty or insecurely fastened, headline media scare tactic, insecurely fastened can cover those with no break away cable, not correctly hitched, 50mm ball and 2" hitch or vice versa, actual dangerous trailers can amount to old tyres, worn tyres, bad bearings, and probably the most common overloaded, the trailer MOT would only pick up a few and the original proposed legislation was for a 2year MOT, so would pick up even less my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

This trailer became detached from the towing tractor as the tractor passed over speed bumps. Going down hill, the trailer then overtook the tractor, took out my father-in-law's garden wall and wrote his car off. If it had been full it would have weighed many more tons and probably would not have bounced off his wall but gone straight into his living room.





Shame really, cos that house could do with knocking down and rebuilding  Jules

Bus driver killed after truck trailers detach and block highway. Only a picture of the trailers across the road.

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This happened to my father when I was a child – a horsebox which wasn’t in the best of shape was attached to the 110, I was in the back and watched the trailer go past us while my father was approaching a village, very fortunate to have no vehicles in the opposite direction, the trailer went straight into a ditch and made a huge mess, surreal watching it go past and dad was white as a sheet.

I was getting a lift home with a colleague many years ago, we were in his Fiesta and just travelling along a B road through Wickford in Essex, little bit of a curve with houses either side so a 30 mph limit with lamp posts, car towing a caravan coming the other way as it approached us we both shouted as the caravan gently pulled out to overtake him and cut across in front of us and straight into a lamp post which stopped its progress luckily, we were missed by my mates quick reactions and luck.... Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

I still recall a few years ago being on a quiet CL in the middle of nowhere and a couple drove onto the site with their caravan hitched but no breakaway cable, and more worryingly the electrics for the caravan lights were not connected.

At first I thought it was an oversight, but when I pointed it out to them they told me the lights on the van had stopped working years before, and as they only drove 20 miles to the site a few times a year they 'winged it'

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I had a boat trailer coupling fail on me last year - part way into the journey the small tooth whichsits under the ball fractured going over some bumps.
Fortunately the well fixed and strong breakaway chain (I'm a bit OTT when it comes to things like that!) controlled it and let me stop safely - just a small hole in the bumper cover and a long wait to find a replacement for the somewhat unusual hitch! 2000 Xei 1.8 gone
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The break-away cable is intended to be weak. Its job is pull on the handbrake and then snap, not to keep the trailer following along behind the tow vehicle. If the trailer remains connected to the tow vehicle by the cable it will flail about and probably overturn itself, and sometimes the tow vehicle as well.

Once the cable fails (the crimp at the hook end is designed to slip) the brakes of the trailer should be on and the trailer continue in a straight line to a stop.

There is a different arrangement used on heavy trailers with two chains between tow vehicle and trailer A-frame, crossing over at the hitch. These are intended to keep the two vehicles together, and the two chains are supposed to prevent the swaying starting. Everyone can spread it - Anyone can catch it. Stay home - the life you save can be your own!