I have pulled many vehicles out of tough situations but I do not think I would tow a vehicle on a public road again with a rope after a very scary experience I had about 25 years ago.

A friend of mine in college had 2 cars; a large old beater that his wife drove to work and a smaller car that my friend used to commute to school. The big car broke down in the city and my friend and I went in the very early morning (well before rush hour) to tow it home with the smaller car. We used a heavy thick synthetic rope to connect the vehicles together (I do not remember what type) and there was about 30 feet between the cars. I was in the vehicle being towed and remember I had steering and some braking, my friend knew the 50 mile back-road route so he drove the front vehicle. We made it out of the city OK and onto the country gravel roads, we went over some railroad tracks and started down a long hill that had a one lane concrete bridge at the bottom. The large rear car I was in started gaining on the small car in front so I lightly applied the brakes, this is when things went very bad. The rear car I was in swerved sideways across the road repeatedly as we quickly headed for the bridge and river. The front tow car was also being thrown around and looked like it was going to broadside into the bridge, then be slammed by the car I was in. As luck would have it the rope broke between the two cars, with the rear car ended up in the adjacent ditch and the front car on the road facing the wrong direction!

I was really freaked-out by this but since we had no money for a proper tow truck, traffic was backing up and we had to clear the site before the police came, we re-tie the rope together (now even shorter) and slowly managed to get the car home (where it was later sold for scrap, DUH).

You do stupid things in your youth and this adventure was one of mine. This event could have ended tradically for both my friend and I or especially if another innocent driver/pedestrain happened to be at the site.

Since that time I have not towed any vehicles any long distances with a rope; its tow truck, flatbed, solid towbar or nothing.

My 0.02 cents,

Mike