Name: Sydney Swafford
From: Oklahoma City, OK
Votes: 0
Trailers
and Traffic
How
often do drivers get frustrated with a loaded horse trailer or cattle
truck moving slower than molasses? Many drivers even speed around
these vehicles and potentially cut them off. Others resort to
tailgating them to encourage the trailer to go faster. On occasion,
drivers honk their horn in anger. These may seem like harmless
actions, but to those that are driving the trailer, and to the
animals in them, it can turn a simple trip into a fatal ride.
I
have personally been a witness to an angry driver who cut off our
loaded horse trailer and almost drove us off the road. We were
turning onto an off-ramp and were in the process of slowing down our
trailer when the car behind us sped around us and turned onto the
off-ramp in front of us. The car then quickly slowed down without
giving our trailer the proper warning and because our trailer had a
horse in it, we were not able to slow down as quickly as the small
car. We were forced to make a quick decision: pull off the road or
quickly move to the open lane next to us. Changing lanes with an
empty horse trailer is challenging enough, but changing lanes with a
loaded trailer going 50 miles per hour is even more challenging!
Luckily,
we were able to move over before slamming into the back of the other
driver.
Other
drivers may react oppositely by becoming overly excited
seeing
a trailer full of horses. Some drivers honk their horns or roll their
window down
and
yell or wave to the horses or cattle. These actions may not affect
horses accustomed to traveling, but if there is a horse who is a
nervous traveler, it may become alarmed at the sudden new sounds or
motions and may lash out at the trailer, other horses, safety
restraints, or in the most extreme cases, attempt to jump out of the
trailer windows. This
could all lead
to disastrous or even fatal consequences to the horses, trailer
driver, or surrounding drivers.
Drivers
need to understand that trailers should be treated like semi trucks
or hazardous explosives. Drivers ed instructors need to teach
student drivers about the consequences of disastrous driving around
trucks hauling heavy loads and animals. If
other drivers can see pictures of what dangerous driving leads to,
they may be more cautious around trailers. To raise awareness, I
personally share pictures of the scenes of wrecked horse trailers on
my social media where both animals and humans tragically lost their
lives.
With
advancements in technology and the ability to easily share alarming
images and videos far and wide, I believe drivers will become more
aware of the results of being negligent around loaded animal trailers
and reduce the number of deaths of both animals and humans.
