Joe Jamieson, the inventor of the Automated Safety Hitch System and owner of the manufacturing company, shared his hair-raising story of the accident he and his production manager experienced in June 2018.
Jamieson said he was traveling 70 MPH southbound on Interstate 10 East just north of El Paso, Texas along with heavy truck traffic. Suddenly, an eighteen-wheel truck physically pushed Jamieson’s Ford F350 he was driving. Attached to his truck was an Automated Safety Hitch System towing a gooseneck flatbed trailer hauling another Automated Safety Hitch System. The impact pushed the vehicles off to the right side of the soft shoulder.
Jamieson lost control of the rig, and it darted to the left into the center median where the vehicles flipped over and spun around 180 degrees. Jamieson explained he only rolled once and stopped upside down with the Automated Safety Hitch System and gooseneck trailer still attached in a straight line.
The amazed first-responders quickly arrived to help Jamieson and his production manager out of the inverted truck. They were thoroughly checked out for injuries and were found not to have scratch nor a bruise! Jamieson said that within 15 to 20 minutes, his blood pressure was a healthy 124 systolic and 78 diastolic.
Jamieson said the first-responders were very surprised that the whole rig stayed together. During the conversation with a highway patrol officer, Jamieson was told that if the truck had broken free of the Automated Safety Hitch System, it would have continued rolling across the two lanes of heavy traffic and they may not have survived.
Jamieson provided some photos to view below. Jamieson is confident that both the red and black Automated Safety Hitch Systems will be repaired and continue life as busy demonstrators. He believes that the flatbed gooseneck trailer will also be quickly returned to service. The fate of the Red 2000 F350 with 319,000+ miles will be returned to service if possible, Jamieson said. The professional tow truck operators informed Jamieson that the frame did not appear noticeably bent. After the truck was up-righted, I turned the key, and the diesel engine started right up, said Jamieson.
©2011-2021 Fifth Wheel Street and Fifth Wheel St. All Rights Reserved. Use of this website constitutes acceptance of the Privacy Statement and Terms and Conditions of Use.
