Cause my husband loves to fish!
Posted on 10/25/2003 1:07:45 AM PDT by quietolong
January 9, 2003
Why my truck has a trailer hitch
I bought a Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck last year, and I ordered the optional brush guard for the grill and a trailer hitch. They are odd things to have added because I don't intend to go off-road into brush, and I don't intend to tow anything. So why did I buy them? The answer in a moment. But first a comment on how intensely some people hate pickup trucks.
Not long ago our local newspaper published a column deriding the owners of Dodge Ram 2500 pickups. The columnist admits Dodge Rams intimidate him, and he tells of watching as a "young Napoleon," as he put it, wheeled into a parking space, opened a massive door, and had to "parachute" down from the cab of a Dodge Ram 2500. This made him nervous, he says. Then he wondered why "this diminutive stud" caught his eye. He avers it is because little guys in monster trucks scare him.
Next, shifting topics, the columnist describes the paranoia he felt after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Then he makes a connection. After a lengthy discussion about Osama and al-Qaida, he says the "stud muffin in the monster pickup truck, in all likelihood, poses a greater threat to the public safety than a plane commandeered by Osama." He says he keeps a nervous eye on such drivers because "These aren't farmers; these are 'cool' urban nightcrawlers, who use their big trucks aggressively to create space."
Are those of us who drive Dodge Ram 2500s a threat to public safety? Well, let me comment on where the real threats are. In a span of 45 years, my vehicles have been involved in 11 accidents that caused damage. My first was in a Ford T-boned by a guy crashing a stop sign. My wife in our Volkswagen was T-boned by a driver shooting out of a mall parking lot. The tailgate of our Valiant station wagon was bashed by a hit-and-run driver in a mall parking lot. My Pontiac was sideswiped by a hit-and-run driver in a mall parking lot. My parked Pinto was hit at a shopping mall. Then it was sideswiped by a teenage girl changing lanes. My Sunbird was tail-ended by a hit-and-run driver when my daughter parked it at a rock concert. My Buick, with my wife driving, was severely damaged when she was forced off the road by a driver who crossed the centerline. The Buick was also tail-ended at a stoplight by a retired deputy sheriff. (Because he was a retired law-enforcement officer, he was not cited.) Then the same car was sideswiped by a hit-and-run driver while parked at a mall. Finally, my Ranger was tail-ended by an elderly woman at a stoplight.
So I am not worried about stud muffins driving pickup trucks trying to "create space." I am worried about soccer moms swinging their vans wide as they park at the mall, retired sheriffs who tailgate, inattentive old people, and teenage girls who can't change lanes without hitting someone. In all, more than half the damage I've sustained has come when my vehicle wasn't even moving. Four times it was parked, and three times it was tail-ended while stopped in traffic or parked. I have no evidence that anyone in a pickup truck ever hit any of my vehicles.
That brings me to my two aftermarket items. They were added strictly for defensive purposes. If someone swings too widely parking next to my Ram, my hope is that the brush guard bashes their bumper and grill before they reach mine. As for the trailer hitch, it is a rugged piece of steel bolted to the frame and located 22 inches above the pavement. If someone tail-ends me, they will have to eat that trailer hitch before they do significant damage to my Ram.
6/19/2003
More about the trailer hitch
A few days ago, I was standing at a bus stop reading a newspaper when I heard a loud crash. I looked up to see a small car rebounding off the back end of a Chevrolet Blazer that had stopped at a traffic light. The car hitting the blazer was a generic sedan, so I couldn't tell what make it was. But that is immaterial to my point. What I know for sure is that the car gave the Blazer one heck of a hit. And it all happened less than eight feet from where I was standing at the curb.
As the drivers got out to inspect the damage, I ambled over to take a look. Judging from the noise the crash made, I expected to see considerable damage to both vehicles. The car had a rubber front bumper that rebounded from the crash pretty much intact with the only visible damage being severe abrasion across the bumper. The Blazer suffered no damage whatsoever because it had a trailer hitch that totally fended off the car. There is no doubt in my mind that without the hitch, the Blazer's bumper supports would have been bent.
Once again, I am vindicated. On this page in the January 9, 2003 issue, I wrote about how I had a trailer hitch installed on my pickup truck as a defense against being rear-ended, a fate that at least two of my prior vehicles suffered with considerable damage. Several readers took me to task for having the hitch installed for defensive purposes, but what I saw at the bus stop validated my position. If you are going to rear-end my pickup, your car will have to eat that hitch before you do any damage to my rear bumper.
The point of view of those criticizing my trailer hitch astounds me. Their attitude, in its essence, boils down to the following: "It is almost a total certainty that I will eventually run into the rear of another vehicle. After all, accidents happen, and I surely am going to hit somebody. When I do, I want their vehicle to crumple and fold like an accordion so that neither my kids, my wife, nor I get hurt. And I resent the fact that someone would install a trailer hitch to fend me off. That means they value the steel and plastic of their vehicle more than they value the health and welfare of my kids, my wife, and me."
So, do I really value my vehicle more than the careless driver's family? Hmmm. Don't back me into a corner on that one. What I know for sure is that I am sick and tired of having my vehicles rear-ended by careless drivers. And the ultimate solution is so simple. Put away the cell phone and pay attention to your driving. Just don't hit me. I say again: Don't hit me!
While we are on the subject of driving, let me point out that the attorney general of the United States is always a lawyer, the surgeon general is always a doctor, and the Secretary of the Treasury is usually a banker or businessman. But why is the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration never a driver? I don't mean a driver in the sense of having the no-brainer $10 driver's license that most states issue. I mean someone who has driven professionally or at least has an affinity for and knowledge of automobiles.
Right now, the head of the HTSA is a medical doctor. And he seems to be continuing the tradition of the government promoting nerdlike control of vehicle design. I would like to see this position held by the likes of Michael Waltrip, Jimmie Johnson, Robby Gordon, or some other NASCAR, IRL, or CART race-car driver. Or even just a guy who drives a taxi or 18-wheeler would be OK. I hate seeing vehicle regulations being set by chauffeur-driven people who don't appreciate cars or have any knowledge about them.
Link to Why my truck has a trailer hitch page
Link to More about the trailer hitch page
On a merging ramp in my P/U Traffic stopped. The guy behind me in a Mercedes was paying more attention to adjusting his radio. And POW! He took out the whole front of his car, With water from the radiator squirting out.
At the time I did not have the hitch in the receiver. but it took the brunt of the energy All I got was a small bend in the bumper. If I would have had the hitch in wouldn’t even got that. And probably put a hole in his engine. Gave him a ride home. and went about my business.
Don’t you love these:
>>>> I am worried about soccer moms swinging their vans wide as they park at the mall, retired sheriffs who tailgate, inattentive old people, and teenage girls who can't change lanes
While we are on the subject of driving, let me point out that the attorney general of the United States is always a lawyer, the surgeon general is always a doctor, and the Secretary of the Treasury is usually a banker or businessman. But why is the head f the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration never a driver?
Right now, the head of the HTSA is a medical doctor. And he seems to be continuing the tradition of the government promoting nerdlike control of vehicle design. I would like to see this position held by the likes of Michael Waltrip, Jimmie Johnson, Robb Gordon, or some other NASCAR, IRL, or CART race-car driver. Or even just a guy who drives a taxi or 18-wheeler would be OK. I hate seeing vehicle regulations being set by chauffeur-driven people who don't appreciate cars or have any knowledge about them <<<<<
Couldn’t have said it better!
How much do you want to bet those who are afraid of P/Us. Vote Rat or Green.
Even worse was finding out the replacement cost would be about $950.
However, IMO, he's way off base on this one. Putting a trailer hitch (much less driving around town with the hitch drawbar and ball installed) on a vehicle primarily for the purpose of using it as a weapon in an auto accident is selfish, at best.
From a legal standpoint, the only difference between hitches and 10 foot spears designed to impale nearby drivers is that a hitch (ostensibly) has some purpose other than damaging other vehicles and/or maiming their occupants. In Mr. Kohl's case, by his own admission, that distinction is lost.
Everyone likes to cite being rear-ended as justification for doing this. The implication is obvious: I'm a better driver than most other drivers around me – or at least better than most folks who aren't also driving a vehicle like mine. It's only the idiots in those OTHER kinds of vehicles who cause the accidents, right?
However, nobody's bragging about what happens when YOU'RE the fool that backs into someone else.
Prediction: If your insurance policy doesn't already have a clause in it that excludes coverage for damage caused by a removable trailer hitch, it eventually will.
And counter-productive at worst. In physics, there's no freebies. You're trading sheetmetal damage for frame damage, and probably transferring more of the impact energy to the passengers in the process.
Cause my husband loves to fish!
Hey Norm, you might want to pull out your ping list for this one.
You bet the guy votes rat or green. Since he's intimidated by objects rather than the people in pseudo-control of the objects, what popped into my head was, "bet he's a gun-grabber, too." GMTA.
FrogDad and I also have a Dodge Ram 2500 pickup. We call it "The Bohemoth". I love it and usually drive it to work.
Well, I had been driving for 25 years without ever having been involved in a traffic accident of any type (except as a witness, once), and then in a 4 month period, I was involved in FOUR traffic accidents! And in all 4, I was rear-ended! Three occurred at stop-lights, and one at a yeild sign! In all 3 of the stop light accidents, the lights were red, and there was traffic ahead of me. In the case of the yeild sign, the woman just didn't notice that I was stopped (she was fixated on looking at the traffic light, and talking on her cell phone). The light had just turned green, but there was still traffic coming, since in KC it seems that most drivers take traffic signals to be "suggestions." She actually pushed me into the oncoming traffic!
For a while there, I thought about hanging tires or other bumpers of some sorts on my car... Or maybe reactive armor!
Mark
Since my rear was up high due to my braking action and his dove low when he finally hit the brakes, the ball left it's impression at the top of what once was a functioning radiator. Lot's of drippage.
You might want to check your brake lights. ;-)
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