After toddler's death, UHP warns of improperly hitched trailers


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SALT LAKE CITY — Summer season is towing season so there are thousands of boats, RVs and trailers racing at high speeds across America's highways. Safety is a matter of life and death.

Minnesotan Jeremy Cox had taken his two children to the library over the weekend. A trailer being towed by a pickup approached.

"This should never have happened," said Minn. State Patrol trooper Kelley McGraw.

The runaway trailer rammed the driver's side. Cox died instantly. His beautiful 3-year-old daughter Izzy, seated behind her dad in a car seat, also died that day. Eleven-month-old Liam miraculously survived.


All the air just left me. My world just shattered.

–Kristie Cox


"This was tough," McGraw said.

Wife and mother Kristie Cox soon got the news.

"All the air just left me," Kristie said. "My world just shattered."

The trailer's hitch was missing a 75-cent clip.

Utah Highway Patrol officer Bryce Ivie says that the pin needs to be in a clip and that he sees too many trailers improperly equipped.

"It's very important to take those few extra seconds to make sure that everything's attached properly," Ivie said. "It could save someone's life."

KSL-TV bought a small trailer on ksl.com for $300 to test its safeness on the road. It's like thousands of others on Utah roads, but Ivie was able to spot problems right away.

"I see several things that are wrong," Ivie said of the trailer. "There's a hole right here that's designed to have a locking pin in place. Once that pin's in place, you've got a secondary safety mechanism."


It's very important to take those few extra seconds to make sure that everything's attached properly. It could save someone's life.

–UHP Trooper Bryce Ivie


The trailer has no locking device on the hitch and long and loose electrical wiring. There's only one safety chain, poorly secured by a small nut.

"There's not a big difference between the size of that chain link here, and the size of that bolt to keep it from pulling through under force," Ivie said.

KSL-TV hooked up a different chain. To prove the importance of the chain, KSL-TV did a test and disabled the latch. They drove the trailer on a closed-course track with the help of UHP.

At 40 mph, the trailer hit a bump and lifted and it came unhitched.

But the chains did their job and it stayed attached. What if they hadn't been there?

KSL-TV took the trailer to Rocky Mountain Raceway, this time without chains.

Once the trailer detached, the driver is powerless to stop it and it crashed into a fence. It's easy to imagine the kind of devastation it can cause with other cars around.

The kind of devastation a Minnesota mom has to live with every day.

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Jed Boal

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