Law requiring Tow Mirrors
 

Far too often I see people cruising down the highway in a brand new half ton, towing a brand new 30ft trailer and they don't have tow mirrors installed. For a lot of these guys, they are new to towing a trailer. Lane changes are total guess work or they'll swing the trailer in the lane to have a look and that can get sketchy real fast. I would love to see a requirement for tow mirrors that extend past the width of the trailer. From what I can see online, current regs are that if the rear-view is obstructed, two side-view mirrors are required. If the side-view mirrors are also obstructed, what good are they?

https://www.transportation.alberta.ca/2182.htm

Is it enforceable though, and if it is, then it should be.

My beef is that there's no happy medium in between regular truck mirrors and those massive tow mirrors.

Except for Dodge - that tipping design is ingenious. Or the old Ford mirrors, where you could slide them on a track...

But yeah - what would it take for all manufacturers to build in even a 3" slide?

I use the CIPA clip-on ones - they help, but a little more added visibility would be great.

The bigger issue, is LEO's don't care about recreational tow'ers.

There are a TON of illegal units (weight/length/setup/etc) everyday on Alberta roads, and LEO's won't do a thing. Even though it's a pretty easy cash cow for them.

I've seen a kenworth pulling a 45' toyhauler double towing an enclosed car trailer (at least 20' long). I'm not saying a kenworth can't haul it, but it was blatantly illegal.

At least BC has informed their LEO's of the rules and they are enforced (for the most part). I've seen portable weight scales with a travel trailer on them, on the side of the road multiple times.

Both my old mans 2014 chevy and my 2005 Titian have sliding tow mirrors. Pretty sure every manufacture makes them they just are not on trucks as you might need to get a 3/4 ton or them added on as an option.

Absolutely, I'm aware that they are available on pretty much every truck, but my point was that it would be nice to have a function on regular mirrors to extend a bit. I could have had them on my last few trucks, but ninety percent of our driving is not towing, so having huge towing mirrors would be a waste, IMO.

Drive's me bonkers.

I have a slip on set for my F150 and they work great, I still have a blind spot of about 20 feet directly behind the trailer, but they help huge for lane changes and such.

The indy 500 of trailers every Friday and Sunday on the transcanada is nuts. I'd say about 35% of the units out there are not in legal compliance in one way or another. Tow mirrors, overweight, etc. Scary watching these little SUV's coming down Scott lake hill with the trailer pushing the truck all over the place.

My current F150 has the sliding tow mirrors from the factory, they are larger and i actually love them for driving around the city everyday, let alone when i actually use them for towing my trailer. I feel its a pretty simple issue for LEOs to enforce if it's written in stone.

Campers
 

Leaving Calgary, northbound on QE 11 the other day. Short bed 1/2 ton with a 8 or 9 foot camper on it. He had the camper tied on with 2" ratchet straps, and his rear bumper was about 6 inches off the pavement.

:thinking-006:

Ya right the LEO don't care:snapoutofit:

I like it when the hammerheads keep thier mirrors on and hog the centre line...:scared0015:

umm.. That's the thing.. It can and does cause accidents..

If you can't see behind you, how do you know it's clear to change lanes/move over for emerg. vehicles/etc?

The best part is, the guy without the mirrors won't know they caused any accidents (as they can't see behind them)..

They don't... that's right from the horse's mouth (there's only 6 Leo's in my family).

Sorry, They're exact words are, unless it's blatantly causing an issue to traffic, they won't do anything.

Case in point, coming home yesterday, and oddly enough right on Scott Lake Hill, I passed a white F150 with no tow mirrors. He was hauling around a 28foot trailer, with a big white dog in the box. Dog seemed happy, but didn't look all that safe to me.

JC....You do not have them extended out when not pulling do you?

Perhaps by looking to see if the lane beside you is clear. Just a thought.

I don't use tow mirrors with my truck but when I towed with my suv I did use tow mirrors , my trailer is only 91" wide as most trailers 97"
and I can see fine what's behind me.

Has anyone ever dealt with a DOT officer... let them police recreational vehicles... No more holiday trailers on the road

Once again.. How do you see behind you if you can't see past the trailer?

NVM.. you're probably one of the many that don't use mirrors at all.

It completely depends on the truck/trailer combo. I know some trailers are really narrow (less than 8'), and those you wouldn't need tow mirrors. But IMHO, if you can't see the rear corners of your trailer, it's not safe.

I wish this was the case.. I saw so many dangerous combos on the highway..

Lifted 1 tons dragging 30ft trailers nose high with no sway or WD.. yep.. Trailer was swaying back and forth ~12". Sigh..

And once again way over length units.. Semi hauling a really long horse trailer, and a flat deck car hauler with quads on it.. Sigh.. idiots..

LEO's would make their monthly quota probably faster (than speeding tickets) if they enforced this stuff.

Let's not forget about the hazard of some heroes who drive around with their towing mirrors fully deployed, towing an invisible phantom trailer, taking up a lane and a half.

x2...That was my question to an earlier post.....My kids and I laugh when we see it....I guess they want to make there balls or there truck bigger...Not sure which is the correct answer though:sHa_sarcasticlol:

This also drives me nuts. I'm not sure what they're trying to accomplish but it sure looks foolish.

The first rule of towing a trailier
 

I only ever see them at the Balzac or Nisku scales....

That goes the same for those douches with a giant sled deck with nothing on it. Then park it in a parking lot where people can bang their noggin on the corners.
N

Yep, this sort of the stuff annoys me way more. Just this weekend, I saw a Dodge SRW diesel towing a 5er that was at least 30', with a small single axle pup flatdeck with freakin' four dirtbikes and a Rhino loaded on it. Entire pup trailer was swaying all over the road, and the driver didn't even seem to care. Brutal.

Bottom line is its a huge saftey issue. And it needs to be enforced.

These guys buying 8ft wide campers, regardless of length, can at least afford a set of clip ons.

I drive a 2014 sierra 1500, and it makes me so damn mad It come with the stupid little car mirrors. Shouldn't even be an effing option on a pickup.

Need to at least be extendable.

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I drive an F-550 for work daily. The mirrors are deployed as I have a service body on it. I do have a "phantom trailer" I guess. Its funny though; I drive down narrow residential streets to cut lines and everything in between and my mirrors never seem to strike random people or objects. You do realize that the width of a truck with the mirrors deployed, is still narrower than a lane of traffic right?