What a horrible way to go. He was fully aware of it till the end. R.I.P. I am no mechanic and wish I had the mind for engineering, but I have a question: Why was the car still in Drive as he tried to adjust the trailer?
Is that a common short term risk many people take when connecting to a trailer? I used to work at a U-Haul back in the 1990’s, but never saw anyone doing it this way.
I suspect he was in a hurry and thought he had put it in park.
The report says he fell out of his RV. He was in the driver’s seat trying to maneuver the RV and trailer. That’s why the RV was in drive. Don’t know how he managed to fall out, though. Guess he had the door open and was leaning out trying to see or something.
Even odds he was a retiree with minimal big rig driving/handling experience. There are a lot of them on the road.
The way I read it was that he was pulling a trailer with a motor coach and he was trying to get the trailer straight in line with the motor coach. He probably couldn't see the trailer in his mirrors and was leaning out the door to check and fell. I'd bet it was a Class C (van front and chassis with a coach body built on it) as most Class A motor homes don't have driver's doors. Some do, but it's rare, and they're older models.
In the olden days, Grandpa would get run over by his tractor in the field.
As to leaving things in Drive, have you seen the train movie “Unstoppable?”
Years ago, a neighbor of mine went hunting and his car got stuck and he tried to fix it and got stuck under the car...Somehow the car caught fire and you know the rest...He was all alone.....