He said they are told to target vehicles that are "commercial" like hobby farm horse trailers because they see no maintenance. And dual wheeled flat beds for landscapers and the 'hobby' scrap metal guys. He actually said the RV guys and race trailers/ motorsport guys are usually really good about maintenenece and keep stuff up to regs. The landscape guys are among the worst apparently.
I actually think its ok they pick on the offenders , its a nice change.
I'd agree, and disagree.
Some horse trailer owners are terrible about maintenance. Others are fastidious about it because they know they have 2, 4, 6 or more lives back there who are relying on them for their safety and well being. With many horses costing a LOT of money it's in the owners best interest to make sure their stuff is safe. On the flipside, there are lots of 2 horse junkers out there that only move once or twice a year and spend the rest of the time in the back-40 rusting, and yes, they can be lacking maintenance. That said, the MTO is increasingly mandating yellow sticker annuals for horse trailers, even when they are not used commercially, so this ensures they remain safe.
Scrap and landscape flatbeds? Many scrappers run under the rules because most of them are not even running as businesses, they are just flying under the radar, and yes, a lot of their stuff is junk. Landscape companies, really depends - if they're running under the radar (retired guy with a lawnmower and some rakes for example) chances are they're not getting annuals done, but any legitimate company operating commercial is subject to annuals so the equipment is inspected at LEAST once a year and the person towing it is supposed to, by law, be inspecting it daily, but often the kids they hire have no idea what they're inspecting and just fill out the paperwork as part of their daily routine.
RV's? Tough call on that as well. I disagree that RV owners universally do a lot of maintenance. I drive for a living and see plenty of RV's sitting on the side of the road with issues, and don't even ask me how many I follow who are towing with only half their lights working. Hell, I followed an old 5th wheel last summer where the guy had his signal lights wired in reverse, so left signal was right, right was left.
How much maintenance they get seems directly proportional to their age - the retired guy with the shiny new travel trailer is likely doing maintenance religiously, but when it gets down to a family situation with a used trailer...half these people couldn't change a tire much less make sure their tires were inflated properly before hitting the road, adjusting their brakes once or twice a summer, or in the case of my example above...even being bothered to ensure that their lights are working. Don't even get me started on the "hunt camp specials" that haven't moved in 30 years who someone hooks up and decides to tow a few hundred K. No brakes, no lights, no safety chains, no breakaway, overloaded, improper hitch...who cares, right?
To give RV's a pass on safety would seem wrong if you saw what I see regularly. Us commercial guys dread May 24 and long weekends all summer as this is when all the "happy campers" hit the road with lashups that make us cringe.
Pssst, not if you respond
Not when the goal was to get you to admit you're trolling. Checkmate.
