Ladders that are improperly secured to vehicles pose a huge danger on the roads and we have regularly featured stories of big accidents and massive tailbacks caused by ladders on the carriageway.  Two men were injured in separate incidents on the same day in May after their vehicles caught fire having collided with ladders in the road.

On the 15^th May a car on the M23 near Crawley, Sussex, caught fire after making contact with a ladder in the road that had fallen from another vehicle.  The male driver was lucky enough to escape with only minor burns following the afternoon incident on the northbound carriageway.  The section between junctions 11 and 10a were hit by delays for two hours, as the Highways Agency worked to clear the debris and fuel that had spilled onto the road.  The road reopened fully two hours later once all the emergency services had left.

On the same afternoon in Pico Rivera, Los Angeles County, a motorcyclist was also subject to a vehicle fire caused by a collision with a ladder in the road, although he was not as lucky as the man in the UK.  Because he was on a motorbike he fared worse in the fire and was airlifted to hospital with first and second degree burns.  Again, the road was closed while the debris was cleared but it still hit rush hour traffic quite badly.

Next time you are putting your ladder onto your roof rack or in the back of a truck, always make sure they are properly secured and that there is no risk of them falling off and causing accident or injury.  These locking ladder clamps are ideal for the job, and even better, they’re now 1/3 off! Come on over to our main website and check them out, www.midlandladders.com.