Glen Allen resident brings national awareness to dangers of loose, stolen trailers

Glen Allen resident Ron Melancon calls himself a fixer.

His mission is to bring awareness to the dangers of homemade, improperly secured, stolen or unregistered utility trailers towed by passenger vehicles on U.S. roads.

“My issue – our issue – is fixable,” Melancon said of the hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries caused annually by trailer-related accidents. “I am trying to save lives.”

Melancon’s advocacy for roadway safety originated in the early 2000s after he witnessed a homemade trailer fatally strike a woman. After creating the website http://www.dangeroustrailers.org in 2004, Melancon launched a campaign to eliminate these types of accidents through “data collection, education and public awareness programs, policy changes, product redesign and survivor advocacy.”

Trailer-related accidents have been connected to deaths in Virginia as recently as last week. Melancon referenced the death of a man in Amherst County on May 17 involving a tractor trailer that crashed into a stopped car after an unsecured couch fell into the road.

A significant number of accidents result from trailers being stolen or uninspected, Melancon said.

In Virginia, a trailer is required to have brakes and be inspected if the "actual gross weight" of the trailer and its load is 3,000 pounds or more, according to the Virginia State Police website. If the actual gross weight is less than 3,000 pounds, a trailer is not required to be inspected, unless it is also equipped with brakes, according to the website.

“Over 3,000 trailers have been stolen in Virginia,” Melancon said – but only five of them have been found.

Because stolen trailers are not licensed, there is difficulty ensuring they meet state safety guidelines – such as having brakes or carrying a certain weight limit, he said.

Melancon said he was frustrated by a lack of state and federal legislation addressing roadway safety and the proper use of trailers.

“In Virginia, if you're taking a trailer full of loads, a cop cannot stop you, if not secured, until he sees [the load] fall off the trailer,” Melancon said.

The Virginia General Assembly passed legislation in 2020 banning police from pulling over vehicles solely for certain safety violations, including vehicles “with defective and unsafe equipment.”

Melancon also noted that trailer-related deaths are not discussed as frequently as other mechanical accidents despite their frequency on U.S. roadways.

He referenced the recent death of a six-year-old child who was pulled under a Peloton Tread and Tread+ machine, which was followed by a prompt recall of 125,000 of the machines in the U.S. However, there had not been a recall of trailers following the deaths of children in trailer, parade and hayride accidents, Melancon noted.

“Last year in America, 32 kids were killed by a loose trailer,” Melancon said – but there haven’t been any notable changes in trailer-related laws or policies, which has him perplexed.

“No one talks about it,” he said. “What's the problem?”

Advocacy about dangerous trailers has extended beyond Melancon’s local residence. His website’s archives include national stories of trailer-related accidents and statistics.

His work in lobbying and bringing attention to trailer safety issues has been referenced by media outlets, academic studies and legislators. Most recently, Melancon was featured in a May 19 report by KETK regarding an investigation into the death of an East Texas woman who was struck and killed by a trailer.

Melancon’s activism even goes beyond the U.S., where he assisted a lawmaker in England with researching roadway safety to fulfill the requirements of the 2018 Haulage Permit and Trailers Registration Act.

In the U.S., Melancon hopes to start a larger conversation.

“I would like to have all stakeholders meet in a room and come up with ways to address the license required of towing a trailer, education of learning how to tow a trailer, [Department of Motor Vehicles] manuals on how to tow a trailer, hold people accountable for their mistakes and have the same effort on seatbelt violations as with trailer violations,” he said.

His enduring hope is that tomorrow could be the day change occurs.

“Why am I so concerned? Because I know so much,” he said. “It could happen to me and my family.”

Melancon emphasized that he would not stop keeping track of trailer-related deaths and injuries despite hardship he has faced in doing so. He also said he would advocate for people who had lost their lives and protect people whose lives may depend on it.

“What's our legacy? My legacy is a person who never gave up.”