As ladder safety enthusiasts we’re always saddened to see reports of peril on the roads due to improperly secured ladders endangering motorists.  To us it seems so obvious that transporting ladders requires care and attention, that it’s shocking to learn that not everyone takes the proper precautions.

 

A driver on the M58 was incredibly lucky not to have been injured when a set of ladders came loose from the roof rack of a Citroen van and smashed through the windscreen.  The pictures are the stuff of nightmares, with the whole pane shattered and pushed into the drivers’ area.  If the driver had been leaning forward, or perhaps reaching over to the centre console, there’s a real chance they could have been struck by the feet of the ladder crashing through the windscreen.

 

The speed at which this incident happened makes it all the more frightening, as the forces involved mean that the ladder would have entered the car interior with barely any warning, and clearly with enough force to obliterate the windscreen.  Regardless of the speed of the road, ladders should be securely attached to the roof rack with locking ladder brackets, and ideally a piece of high-vis material tied to the back to alert other road users to the presence of a hazard. 

 

There are rules about the distances a ladder may overhang the front and rear of a vehicle, but in all cases some kind of high-vis fabric is good practice even with a minor overhang.  According to the guidance, an overhang of less than one metre needs no marking, but as we can see, a ladder doesn’t need to be overhanging a vehicle to present a hazard if it is improperly secured.

 

A ladder escaping a van roof in Kent caused a five vehicle pileup and closed a lane of the M20, near junction 5 in late May.  While the ladder didn’t crash directly into any vehicle, the action motorists had to take to avoid crashing into the obstacle on the highway still caused an accident.  This accident, and the one above, would have been avoided had the owners of the ladders been more careful in how they secured the ladders.

 

We sell two types of ladder clamps suitable for roof racks.  One type comes with padlocks that allow you to safely leave the ladders on the roof rack overnight, or when you’re stopped without them being an easy target for thieves.  The other type has a locking mechanism integrated into the clamp which provides another layer of security, as a thief can’t use bolt croppers to cut through a padlock.

 

In both cases, these inexpensive and easy to use ladder clamps will prevent your ladders from causing injury or motorway havoc due to a lost load.  We recommend all ladder transporters use a pair of locking brackets like the ones we sell, and familiarise themselves with the rules and regulations about overhang lengths. 

 

Driving with an unsecured load will get you a minimum of three points on your licence, and could receive a fine if the incident goes to court.  If someone is seriously injured as a result of a badly secured ladder coming loose, (and people have died in ladder accidents like this), then the possibility of jail time is in the picture.  Don’t be a ladder lout, keep it safe and secure in transit.