Here's something I've always wondered:
Legislation aside, aren't you more likely to survive a catastrophic trailer wreck if everything goes flying the **** off as you wreck? I mean, it sucks to be a bystander in that case but when it comes right down to it, wouldn't you prefer them over you? Isn't it the same reason that race cars go flying to bits and pieces during their wrecks? Shedding mass = reducing momentum. I've seen several trailer wrecks on the side of the highway where the people probably would have been fine if the trailer or load just broke free. Instead it jack knifes and flips the tow rig.
True story: One time I was towing my buggy at 80mph on I85 through downtown Atl. In front of me is another truck pulling an enclosed trailer. In front of him is a little black guy in a Nissan Sentra. 5 lanes wide going our direction, we are all in the middle lane. Nissan-man slams his brakes on for no apparent reason. Full on emergency stop, tires smoking and everything. Needless to say, us two trucks behind him towing heavy trailers can't stop quite so fast, so we both throw our brakes on. All tires on both our rigs just engulf in smoke / ABS craziness and his trailer swings across the two lanes to the left while mine does the same to the right. Had we not both swung sideways we would have all collided. All 5 lanes go from 80mph to a dead stand-still in 5 seconds or less. The guy in the Nissan jumps out, runs across the 2 lanes to his left, and jumps up on the median wall with his chest, hangs there a second, and waves to a car headed the other direction on the other side of the median. He then jumps down, gets back in his Nissan, and drives off. I swear I thought my trailer was going to roll me. We all got lucky that day, its the closest to traffic death I've ever been. I actually had to buy new trailer tires afterwards because when they locked up it burnt a flat spot in all 4.
That's when I thought about the shedding mass theory. Had a wreck actually occurred it probably would have been better if my buggy and trailer just broke free and went on down the road. In that case there probably wouldn't even have been any bystanders.
I've also towed my goose neck in the past and looked at those puny little chains and u-bolts that are the supossed fail-safe. Has anyone ever actually broken the main ball and used those? They don't seem like they would hold a 30,000 lbs trailer on for even a brief moment to me!
