Dee-stroyted RV Rig on I-5 North this morning

[W7JZE]

What a terrible RV wreck this morning on I-5 South of Sacramento ~90 miles... I left Patterson, CA ~9:00 AM and went North on I-5 on the way to work in Silly-Cone Valley. Made it about 10 miles and traffic was stopped. This is a 70 MPH section of I-5 and traffic NEVER stops. Never. I drive it 4 times a week and have done that since 2009.

I happened to stop on the top of a small hillock and as far as I could see (~3 miles) I-5 was stopped. Sat for ~45 minutes as ~ 15 emergency vehicles (maybe more?) went by me in the median. Not kidding, 15. maybe more.

After 45 mins the traffic began slowly moving and after about a total time of about an hour I crept by a totally blocked I-5 on the median which by that time had yellow cones directing us all onto the dirt median area around the totally blocked 2 lanes.

The Ambulances had left by the time that I slowly passed the wreck, but 10 or more emergency vehicles were still on site.

I "think" it might have been (maybe) a 5th wheel towed by a pickup. Or it might have been a class -A towing a pickup. The pickup was on it's lid. The RV/MH/5th Wheel (whatever it was) was strewn over, and closing both lanes, and the debris field went about 100 feet or more.

The was N*O*T*H*I*N*G left of the RV (whatever it was). Debris only. Nothing. Spread across both lanes.

Goodness. Be carefully out there. I hope no one on this board was involved...

:-(

[wa8yxm]

Sounds like either too small a pick up and too big a trailer or a propane explosion. Though to be honest Propane explosions are actually very rare.

3rd Posibility is they got hit, like by a SEMI. Hope the people were not too badly injured.

Google could not find any articles on the crash at this time (4:30 am Saturday CA time)

[W7JZE]

I googled it too and don't see any reports yet. Being in the "middle" of the CA central valley, maybe it didn't get any news coverage???

Anyway, when I finally got t work ~ 90 minutes later, I pulled up a "SigAlert" map to show my boss where the accident happened. Yikes! The map showed the traffic was still backed up. Now for close to 7, maybe 8 miles. Worse than when I was in the middle of it almost 2 hours earlier.

I'll look over the CA Hwy Patrol website. Maybe they have info on it. Those people's life changed yesterday. I sure hope everyone survived!

[W5DOK]

I don't know anything about this crash, but the Foretravel service manager recently told me that 90% of rv crashes are caused by tire failure. No matter how good the tread looks, when they get to be 5 years old, start looking for new tires and at 7 years, it ain't optional. On most rv's, tires age out long before they wear out from mileage.
Be safe. You've got to live long enough to spend your kids inheritance.
Doc

[NN5I]

Amen, Doc!

[electricflyer]

When we picked up our TT the guy that gave us the walk-thru said you will never wear the tire tread out on the trailer. It will crack apart long before the tread is gone. He was also an OLD TIME camper so I took his word for it. He suggested you look for cracks in the tread (and sidewalls) after a couple years old.

[W5DOK]

Just another thought on tire life. Just because you have a 2014 rv does not mean that your tires are 2014. They could be 2 years or older before they were installed on your rig. Check the DOT code on the tire. It will be a 4 number code with the week and the year. i.e 5013. Change your tires based on that code and not when they were installed.
Doc