Two Too Many?

Let’s go on an adventure! We’ll take our truck, our travel trailer and both of our ATVs. It will be awesome!

But how will we take our truck, our travel trailer and our two ATVs? Well, let’s see. We will load one ATV on the truck. We will tow the travel trailer AND we will tow another trailer and load it with the second ATV.

So easy.

I mean, what could go wrong?

This collection of trailers and ATVs flipped over on Highway 168 a few days back. The couple had just started out on their vacation when one of the trailers began to sway. The entire collection of trailers became unstable and the trailers jackknifed and rolled over which quickly ended the couple’s travel plans.

Fortunately it did not end their lives.

There was apparently some confusion by the California Highway Patrol as to whether pulling this chain of trailers was legal.

Here are the applicable laws in Ontario.

Cars, passenger vans and SUVs are not permitted to tow more than one trailer or one vehicle. Motor homes, trucks, pickup trucks and truck campers are legally permitted to tow two trailers or a trailer and a motor vehicle behind a trailer. However, a three vehicle combination that is swaying excessively, is unstable or has reduced handling capabilities is subject to action by the police as an unsafe combination of vehicles under the Highway Traffic Act.

The maximum length of any combination of vehicles is 23 m (75′ 6″).

And this one.

It is against the law to tow more than one trailer behind your vehicle unless using a commercial vehicle.

Our motorhome requires that I operate it with a commercial driver’s licence. I suspect that I could legally tow two trailers.

But I won’t.