[color:"purple"]Man Struck and Killed after Trailer breaks Loose[/color]

Kris Thoma, Staff
Pensacola News Journal

Kris Thoma@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

[color:"blue"] Medical examiners on Wednesday, 28 September 2005, completed an autopsy on a Pensacola Beach man who died after an unusual traffic incident in Pensacola, but results of the examination were not made available.

Robert B. McKenzie, 59, of Pensacola Beach was struck about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 27 September 2005 by a runaway trailer carrying a [color:"red"] Hobie Cat Sailboat [/color] on Pace Boulevard just south of Government Street, Pensacola police said. He was pronounced dead at Baptist Hospital about 9:30 p.m.

Sgt. Tonya Humphries said the trailer broke loose from a truck driven by Michael B. Odgen, 24, of Pensacola after crossing over railroad tracks in the inside lane of northbound Pace Boulevard.

McKenzie had been sitting on the base of a concrete light pole on the east side of the road, waiting for his wife to pick him up, Humphries said. He was pinned between the sailboat and the pole, she said.

Police were unable to provide many details Wednesday, citing an investigation expected to take 30 to 60 days to conclude. Family members could not be reached.

Visitation is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, and services are set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Both will be at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North in Cantonment, 1000 U.S. 29 South. [/color]
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Something wasn't secure, what about the safety chains (i.e. back-up)? Any word on the failure point?

Things happen with trailers, strange things and now a sad one. I had a lawn service trailer hop off on the down side of a small canal bridge once it was all hooked up , I THOUGHT! What a pity for the driver and of course the victim.

What a tragic story!

As Bob said, strange things can happen with trailers. I was driving on a freeway near home in Ohio many years ago. The median was a wide grassy area. All of a sudden a trailer with a maybe 23-foot powerboat detachd from a vehicle that was coming the opposite direction. The trailer proceeded off the road and into the median and coasted until it came safely to a stop. All I could think about was, "What might have happened to an oncoming car if this had happened on a two-lane or four-lane highway with no median strip."

We have had two different trailers totally depart from the tow vehicle. In both cases it was because the tongue broke aft of where the safety chains attach.

In one case it was because an additional section had been welded to the tongue to either raise or lower the coupler (can't remember which), and the weld broke.

In the other case the trailer had a long, unsupported tongue, and it broke right where it meets the triangulated sections that go out to form the main bed of the trailer.

reciever hitch pin. Bought a used truck with a receiver hitch. THe pin was so rusted that it was brittle. Guy who had the truck hauled a 38' powercruiser three times a year and a bass boat all the time. If the receiver came out I think the chains would have disconnected themselves. We replaced the hitch and receiver.

Thats one more thing that is on my check list every trip now. receiver, hitch and cotter pin.

Steve