Trailer sway can be very dangerous. In fact, it is one of the most common reasons for accidents and can cause a lot of anxiety with drivers. Unfortunately, the truth is that it can happen and you need to know how to handle it.
Here are some tips to react to trailer sway.
React right away. If you see (or feel) your trailer swaying, you need to react right away. If you don’t, it will just get worse until you are unable to control the truck and trailer at all.
Reduce your speed (but not by braking hard). The best way to slow down in just by removing your foot from the accelerator. You may also be able to downshift to get better control of the rig.
Do not speed up. Going faster is only going to make things worse.
Hold the steering wheel as steady as possible. The trailer is going to try to throw your truck around so it is important to keep it steady. Do not try to correct the sway by turning. Just hold the wheel as straight as you possibly can.
Get off of the road as soon as it is safe to do so. At that time, you can go over your truck and trailer to try to fix the problem. If you don’t, you may just have the same thing happen again!
Trailer sway can be very scary. However, by knowing how to react, you are less likely to lose complete control of your vehicle. You have to slow down without braking hard. You also don’t want to turn your steering wheel hard or you could make it worse. Then, pull over as soon as you can safely do so to figure out what happened.
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