30 days in the hole

[bupkis]

30 days in the hole, guilty for towing a trailer connected by others that comes loose and kills. - missing pin clip and one chain!

'The driver of the tow vehicle, 25-year-old Amanda Engelhart, pleaded guilty to careless driving and unsafe equipment. She spent 30 days in jail.'

' Engelhart bore the responsibility for the crash even though the trailer did not belong to her and had been attached by a family friend.'

http://www.kare11.com/story/entertainment/television/programs/kare-11-extras/2013/05/21/grieving-mom-hopes-tragic-loss-prevents-towing-accidents/3837687/

 

[bondebond]

That's heartbreaking and gut wrenching.

Easily preventable and easily overlooked for those not familiar with towing properly. We all bear the responsibility to do it right, every time.

Thankfully, I have done walk-arounds before taking off only to notice something amiss and fixed it and I can't tell you how many times I've towed something.

 

[1380ken]

Very sad story

 

[Customer]

Terrible shame but the law is correct in assigning blame. Thirty days hardly seems adequate as a sentence though. For the other family it is a life sentence.

 

[nineoaks2004]

It is a shame that this even happened. She had no idea what she was doing to begin with, Someone else hooked the borrowed trailer up for her,and they should have been partially responsible for the accident.

 

[Ductape]

I agree that 30 days simply isn't anywhere near enough. Two people are dead because of her, and whomever hooked up that trailer. I'm sure she feels terrible, but feeling terrible and 30 days in the pen just aren't enough.

 

[Winchested]

Wow disgusting. Just the other day an 80 year old man killed his wife riding shotgun and a 54 year old man on a motorcycle when he pulled broadside in front of the motorcycle. All he got was failure to yield and careless. Why no manslaughter charges is beyond me.

 

[colocmpr]

I'm mixed on this one. Sounds like she took ownership even though she wasn't directly responsible and I'm not sure that there's much benefit to anybody to keep her locked up longer. Doesn't sound like it was intentional and maybe not even careless when she relied on somebody else - more just stupid for not knowing what she was doing, If she knew it was wrong and did it anyhow, that would be different. Seems like a sentence for many hours of community service centered around towing safety would probably be more useful in the end and possibly save other lives.

 

[nineoaks2004]

It is a sad thing that happened and even tho She was not directly responsible, it was up to her to check everything to make sure it was hooked up properly and because of her mistake for not checking two people are dead. The person who hooked it up was also responsible and should not get off scot free either.
Since we do not know the whole story, the judge probably did and he made the decision. The bottom line is the girl will have to live with her actions for the rest of her life. (my opinion)

 

[niagarafam]

Almost daily, I see people with maxed-out tow vehicles, rattly old and unmaintained tow gear, lousy or no tail lights, and speeding. I also read and hear discussion all of the time where people express either their ignorance or cavalier attitude towards TV capacities, hitching requirements, and road speeds. Too many people take a minimal-ized approach to their towing safety and vehicle care. Motor vehicles are essentially missiles. We take so much for granted and display our pride and astounding stupidity with them.

I am increasingly paranoid when I drive or ride in a vehicle. It is getting worse since we no longer learn how to drive. People are ignorant about what a vehicle is, how to drive it properly and safely, road etiquette, and proper maintenance. Additionally, as we grow less and less civil, we expose ourselves to greater selfishness. People do not consider the "other" as I was trained and expected to (at home, in school, on the job, on the road -Everywhere, at all times!). In spite of and because of our technological tools, people are increasingly insular; the "other" is not on their agenda. We all are just going to do what we are going to do. Just observe how people cruise through parking lots and congested intersections; observe their behavior on thoroughfares, freeways, and highways. We truly have a lack of consciousness about what a motor vehicle is and the human life around us.

I truly miss civility - doing what's right and going the extra mile, especially when there is any doubt or potential for harm. When I was coming up, we were trained and schooled - driving was a privilege and serious business. Now, like so many other privileges, it is a birth right in third world America. We do not even now what the word privilege means. My grandparents (WWII and Dust Bowl survivors) and their predecessors did, and they made sure that I knew the world does not revolve around "Me."

 

[jerbear]

CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!! You said it perfectly ! What has happened to our society? People wont slow down no matter what .Tailgate ect. You said it . It's good to know there are still some old school thinkers around. God Bless!

 

[mahoka]

very, very tragic.

I have grown up and been around some type of trailer my whole life and after watching this I am grateful to have had a father teach me the correct way to connect a trailer. He never really explained why but taught me from an early age to "go out and hook up the boat". I did what he told me because i figured it was the correct way to do things. I didn't fully appreciate that until I watched this video and understand the true importance of trailer safety. thanks for posting, something i will never take for granted again.

Steve - hate to sound like big government - but it should be a requirement to watch this.

 

[steve7-4]

This really makes you think about the security of your rig and the responsibility we all have. I like the idea of making this a mandatory viewing for all new members, in fact for everyone at least once.

 

[Nandy]

This very tragic and sad indeed.... I feel for both parties, yes, both. As far as the driver, she probably did not know anything about towing and trusted that the friend knew what he was doing, have you ever trust a friend to do give you advise on how to do this or that? Yet, she owned it which says something good about this person, hopefully this tragedy will help educate all of those that hear about it...

 

[adrianpglover]

Almost daily, I see people with maxed-out tow vehicles, rattly old and unmaintained tow gear, lousy or no tail lights, and speeding. I also read and hear discussion all of the time where people express either their ignorance or cavalier attitude towards TV capacities, hitching requirements, and road speeds. Too many people take a minimal-ized approach to their towing safety and vehicle care. Motor vehicles are essentially missiles. We take so much for granted and display our pride and astounding stupidity with them.

I am increasingly paranoid when I drive or ride in a vehicle. It is getting worse since we no longer learn how to drive. People are ignorant about what a vehicle is, how to drive it properly and safely, road etiquette, and proper maintenance. Additionally, as we grow less and less civil, we expose ourselves to greater selfishness. People do not consider the "other" as I was trained and expected to (at home, in school, on the job, on the road -Everywhere, at all times!). In spite of and because of our technological tools, people are increasingly insular; the "other" is not on their agenda. We all are just going to do what we are going to do. Just observe how people cruise through parking lots and congested intersections; observe their behavior on thoroughfares, freeways, and highways. We truly have a lack of consciousness about what a motor vehicle is and the human life around us.

I truly miss civility - doing what's right and going the extra mile, especially when there is any doubt or potential for harm. When I was coming up, we were trained and schooled - driving was a privilege and serious business. Now, like so many other privileges, it is a birth right in third world America. We do not even now what the word privilege means. My grandparents (WWII and Dust Bowl survivors) and their predecessors did, and they made sure that I knew the world does not revolve around "Me."

Very well put Martin.

After reading this, and remembering a little of some of your previous similar posts, I have to wonder: did you grow up in a much more rural community than where you are currently living or frequently driving? For me this is true. I grew up in a small town in NE Texas with my parents being from even smaller towns/communities in E and NE Texas. DW was raised 20 minutes outside of the "big city" that I lived in. (Sorry, but something that measures 3 miles by 5 miles can't exactly be called a "big" city). We were taught to be courteous, to wave at every passing driving when going slow enough or with few enough vehicles that you can make eye contact with each driver, to get on the shoulder when someone is obviously wanting to pass, no matter what speed I'm going, and what I think we've really lost these days: if you're not at least 15 minutes early you better call and tell them that you're not going to be there as you're already late.

Some of this was lost on us as we went off to college, but we saw the need for it during and after college and the older habits have been slowly making their way back. I can't say that I don't tailgate or don't speed, because I still do. And I'm using the term "tailgate" here to mean not keeping a "safe following distance" between myself and the vehicle in front of me. The prime example would be driving close enough that if the car in front of me were to hit an immovable object, i.e. brick wall, that I couldn't stop fast enough to leave enough of a gap so that if someone hit me from behind that I wouldn't also hit the guy in front. I do keep a few cars length between myself and the vehicle in front, depending on the speed. Of course I leave much more room when towing as I know I can't slow down that quickly, but also I don't want to slam my family into the dashboard either, so I drive...I'll say calmer...when towing. However, I don't think you can get through rush hour traffic in Houston without doing so. That being said, I'm also not the one weaving through all the other cars during rush hour, at least not for more than a decade or so now.

We do live in a society that is very self absorbed these days. We're constantly checking "our" Facebook, Twitter, TAT, whatever page to get the latest status update. It's all about getting "my" morning coffee the way I want it. It's all about knowing what everyone else is doing in and around our lives and letting everyone else know what we're doing. In a society like this we don't care about the general masses. When we're doing something we're constantly listening for the buzz or ring of our phone so we can check what just got posted. Yes I do remember a time before having a computer in my house, but I'm young enough that this time was during elementary school. I haven't always had a cell phone in my life and when my cell phone turned off and on quickly in past years I would shut it off at night. I think these "advancements" and others aren't exactly to blame, but they sure are indicators as to where our society is at.

I'm not to the point to think that everyone else on the road is driving too fast yet, but I'm sure I'll get there by the time that my kids are closer to driving age.

 

[niagarafam]

Yes, Adrian. I mostly grew up in farm towns in the California San Joaquin Valley. Those old Valley towns were "Mayberry" back in the 50's and 60's. My first vehicles to drive and repair were tractors an International and a Ford Dexta and a WWII Willys Jeep. My family also had a brief stint in Gainesville, GA. Gainesville was a drop in the bucket back then, no where near the Atlanta burb that it is today.

Later, I moved to the bustling Napa Valley (6yrs) and then to San Francisco (8yrs), but I have a lot of "country sunshine" in my core.

 

[NegrilJerry]

"watch out for the other guy"

 

[bob barnes]

"watch out for the other guy"

Yes we must I drove a motorcycle and I was on alert at all times for drivers saved my life! Just because you may have the right away means nothing when you are crashed!!