Fatal crash while being recovered by AA!

Orionaut

Orionaut

Orionaut

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Fatal crash while being recovered by AA

Nasty! I hate being towed and I hate towing even more!

However, I do regard it as a "Necessary Evil" I do hope that this will not result in calls for "Assisted towing" (For want of a better description) being banned (as it is in some other countries, apparently)

As an aside, How on earth is the liability (Both legal and for insurance purposes) going to be worked out for something like this?? :confused:
 
Terrible!!


There was a car towing another through Frankfurt town centre the other morning and the tow rope snapped. Not quite the same as the story above but I had visions of the tight rope pinging up and lopping a pedestrian's head off. ouch!
 
So he had a heart attack while being towed and crashed, then died from head injury? Seems like a very peculiar incident and quite tragic for all involved.
 
This happened to me once - broke lose whilst being towed.

The AA driver couldn't be bothered pulling out the wheel mount towing bars so used the wooden bar to tow me. He had to brake heavy at a roundabout and the bar snapped under the pressure leaving me to over take him and drift across the roundabout with no control. Lucky for me (and him) I didn't hit anything and stopped on the grass in the middle.
 
Ive been towed by a recovery service with a rigid bar. I had to steer the car, which was quite hard when he took a tight roundabout quick and i didnt have and PAS
 
Wonder if he turned the Ignition switch to off and the steering wheel locked..



I remember I did this once years ago while being towed and I bricked myself when the steer wheel locked..:o
Think I was trying to start the car by the ignition switch while i was being towed,and turned the ignition switch to off forgetting about the steering lock..
 
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Matt82 said:
Ive been towed by a recovery service with a rigid bar. I had to steer the car, which was quite hard when he took a tight roundabout quick and i didnt have and PAS
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+1

I've also been towed by the AA on the little wheeled rig they can fold out of the van. That lifts the front wheels off the road, so everyone piles in the van.
 
That's the problem with modern cars, everything is so power assisted that if the battery/alternator is dead for example, there's no safe way you can tow it on a line, you can't steer very well, especially with larger cars and you certainly cant brake properly.

The only way is to lift the front wheels up and drag it, or put the whole car on a flat bed.

I found this out to my detriment 2 weeks ago, I know plenty of people with decent size vans that are quite capable of towing my OVLOV, but it just wouldn't have been sensible, so a sheepish call to the AA and a large bill I got home ok.
In the end, the AA guy fitted a second battery and a booster pack thing which gave me enough juice to get back home, luckily my trusted indie garage are less than a mile from my house so I just dumped it there.

A rigid bar may have worked, but unfortunately not many people carry them in their boots.

At least now I have breakdown cover, albeit having paid far over the odds for 'non member recovery'.
 
It's also possible that his airbag wouldn't have worked since he may not have had the ignition on. That, and, if he wasn't wearing a belt, was a recipe for disaster....
 
I was towed by the AA once when my clutch disintegrated. The AA guy fitted a metal bar rather than a rope and I was instructed to stay in my own car and apply light braking when he did (just enough to activate brake lights). Moving off was quite jerky and certainly made you concentrate.

I got to say, it wasn't the most pleasant driving experience. At one point some lady tried to fit into the gap between my car and the AA van on a roundabout before realising I was being towed and barging in wouldn't have ended well. While going all road ragey at the AA driver for her lack of observation skills, she made the same mistake twice and crashed into the back of a taxi who'd stopped at a red light, which I got to admit, was ******* hilarious.

I wonder what caused the car in the news story to break away like that.
 
Imy said:
At one point some lady tried to fit into the gap between my car and the AA van on a roundabout before realising I was being towed and barging in wouldn't have ended well. While going all road ragey at the AA driver for her lack of observation skills, she made the same mistake twice and crashed into the back of a taxi who'd stopped at a red light, which I got to admit, was ******* hilarious.
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LOL :D
 
Nasty crash, being in the motor trade i've been towed plenty, and often by some right cowboys, it can be a bit scary sometimes but even being towed by a numpty its not that dangerous if you know what your doing. I'd say there'd be plenty people capable of being towed safely, judging by all the tailgaters i've seen/experienced over the years.
 
realscot said:
Nasty crash, being in the motor trade i've been towed plenty, and often by some right cowboys, it can be a bit scary sometimes but even being towed by a numpty its not that dangerous if you know what your doing. I'd say there'd be plenty people capable of being towed safely, judging by all the tailgaters i've seen/experienced over the years.
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I hear Audi drivers have got it down to a fine art
 
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