A law against overly long trailer hitches, that is.

During the evening rush hour, with bumper-to-bumper traffic, this big truck squeezes into the space in front of me. Then, when the lines of traffic start to move, he starts off and immediately stops. I stop immediately, too, but not quick enough to avoid his trailer hitch ball -- which was a good ten inches beyond the end of his already extended bumper!

I never saw how long the hitch was, or how high off the ground it was, thanks to the truck being jacked way up. If it was at 23" or lower (which is the maximum bumper height, according to law), then the hitch would have hit my bumper and not the top of my freakin' grill.

BUT...that law is never enforced here, and trucks get away with all kinds of crap like this. I have seen 'em five feet off the ground, with their headlights aimed into other drivers' eyes, riding up and down the highway as if they owned it.

No sense in trying to get his insurance company to pay...they would have blamed me for following him too closely...despite the javelin attached to the back of his "pick-em-up."

 

Youch...shoulda pulled the 9 out on him.

j/k, would truly suck though. Looks like a new hood needed now?

 

That really sucks. I think those super-hick hitches are second in stupidity only to those cheap metal cooler racks that are in****invisible to everyone else. I nearly speared my car a couple times in a parking lot on those stupid metal trays.

Dave

 

Wow that really ****'s me off... that sucks!!!

 

Yeah, they should have a law. I hate trucks that big. I saw a truck at the Rolex and no lie, I coulda walked under it with little crouching. Im 5'6". I think the big truck was there to compensate for something else.

 

I would have been highly upset and found a way to do some damage to the truck for squeezing his way in front of me.

 

I say u put a joust in front of ur car so next time u see him u can ram him and say that its a trailer hitch lol

 

It is illegal. It is considered "unnecessary" equipment when it is not in use. He can be ticketed in most states.

 

Too bad that Florida is not among them.

Speaking of ticketing for odd offenses, when I was a teenager, I received the following traffic citations:

1. Improper start (leaving rubber)
2. Illegal left turn (turning from outside lane)
3. Illegal U-turn (my car did a 180 on a patch of wet pavement)
4. Two tickets for Improper equipment (that were plea bargained down from speeding ticket)
5. Having a police decal in the rear window (it was a fake one)
6. Jaywalking (Yes! This was a plea bargain down from running a stop sign)

I was living in Miami at the time, and down there the Police had to issue tickets if they stopped someone (as there was no such thing as "giving warnings"). In the cases of Improper Equipment, I got stopped in the same area on two different occasions by different cops. After pleading with them, they wrote me tickets for improper equipment which carried no points against my license.

As for the "Jaywalking" ticket, that was given to me by a policeman on a horse!

 

I go to florida now and then but don't live there. IMO their police system sucks. We got pulled over for cracked windshield and he treated us like a criminal but was nice once he saw my cousin was driving and starts hitting on her. My family got rear ended on I4 by teens not paying attention because traffic was slowing down. Took tropper/police/sheriff whatever you wanna call them about 45 mins to come while we are waiting on the side of the highway. What do you expect tho? A state that has to inspections says it all. I feel you though about the long *** hitch.

 

yeah here in FL the good ol' boys are always doing crap light that.. i hate it cause you can never see whats going on infront of you and you feel like you're going to take out your hood under their bumper..

 

Yep, I think these types are everywhere.

That thing about bumpers/hitches on a lifted truck going through passenger car windows and windshields is no joke. If I was ever in a serious accident like that and I lived through it, I'd sue the MF's. It would be better to run into a trailer full of swords.

The tiny little bit of karma for that is when it gets icy or slick and some dumbass in a tall 4x4 hits a railing and flips right over it. I laugh out loud every time I see a story like that.

Dave

 

If you came within 10 inches of the car in front of you, you were:

1)Following to close
2)Not paying attention

Sooooo, which one was it?

 

He said the truck changed lanes tight in front of him, then hit the brakes. It can happen.

Dave

 

read his post again - that's not what happened.

technically the OP is at fault here - but as someone who sits in traffic jams every day I can totally sympathize with his situation. just plain sucks.

 

Enough....