TIRE!
 

I was driving just outside of Nashville today on I-40 and a tire and wheel came bouncing across the divider from the other direction heading our way. I was in the second lane from the left. It cleared the left lane and made it to my lane. I was hoping it would keep on going but alas, it decided to stay in my lane. Heading right for us like it had our name on it. The left lane was blocked and I was unsure of the right lane, and remembered the advice from Planeteer's about hitting the deer. So I held steady, slowed down as much as I could and rammed it. Unfortunately I was driving my wife's cousin new Sequoya. Crunch goes the front end. I also managed to propel the tire forward where a Honda Civic ran into it and knocked out her radiator. Luckily no one was hurt.

How the heck does a tire and wheel come across the barrier wall of an Interstate? I didn't notice any huge wreck in the other side or anything. Maybe it fell off a truck. It was a fairly new tire and the wheel was off (ironically) another small Honda.

Well if it was a Toyota wheel, it would be easy to explain, as it would most certainly be from one accelerating out of control and exploding into eleventy billion pieces as it smashed into the other side of the barrier wall at full speed.

But a Honda? Ya got me.

Ouch. Glad you're OK, even if the car has seen better days.

Pirates are better

Damn CD, I'm glad you were able to slow down and weren't hurt. That had to be a WTF moment.

I was pretty calm when it happened, because I've seen stuff in the interstate before (like an extension ladder falling off a truck). My plan was to just let it bounce on by, but then after about a second (these things always happen in slow motion) I realized that it had our name on it.

I had a tire from a semi fly off into my windshield at about 70 mph once in Arkansas. Yes, I am lucky to be alive.

The night before I said to a buddy I was driving with that it was odd that we'd seen so many shredded truck tires along the side of the road as we drove through Arkansas yet hadn't seen one come off a truck.

The State Trooper who came along said same thing had happened the week beforeon the same stretch of road and the woman driving the car had been decapitated.

Yeah, I shuddered a bit.

Glad no one was hurt. Those types of things can kill people.

In the early days of our company, my wife and I were doing seat belt observations on a street corner in Colorado Springs when a disembodied tire came rolling down the road. We watched it roll by at relatively high speed and that thing went forever. It probably made it another quarter mile before it fell over. Eventually some dude came in search of it, but we never even saw where it came from.

Holy cow. Did it come through the windshield or did it carom off? That'd make a person get their affairs in order.

This tire did a high bounce when it was trying to figure out which lane to settle in. That could have definitely come through the windshield.

I saw a truck that was jacked up about a foot (so some very expensive tires/wheel) lose a tire like that on Dodge St in Omaha. The truck was heading West and the tires crossed over the East side, went down into the grass and right into the big papio (?) creek just west of 680. It was sort of surreal watching this truck fall down on its wounded leg as the tire just bounced down the road.

Shit dude. Glad you're OK. The rest is what you buy insurance for.

I saw one of those incidents last week driving on a two-lane country road. The passenger-side front wheel just popped off of an oncoming El Camino. Car goes out of control, veers into my lane & came inches from a head-on with the Ryder truck in front of me. I stopped to help, the Ryder just kept right on going. That was so close! Somebody cudda died...

I'd be looking on the other side of the road for a vehicle without a tire and make their insurance pay.

This reminds me of my idiotic youth. I lived out on a windy country road which ran right by a golf course. For some reason the groundskeeper kept a dozen or more used full-size car tires back by the cart shed. Whenever we were feeling obnoxious we'd stop and grab a tire and hang onto it alongside the passenger door. We'd let loose of the tire just as we entered into a 90 degree turn and watch it roll into a house... idiot kids. They must have had 10 tires roll into their yard over one summer in particular.

boys will be boys

:LOL: Reminds me of the time I was driving in the mountains on I-70 headed to work down a steep curving grade when a big dodge ram in front of me lost his whole driver front wheel assembly at about 70MPH from the far right hand lane. I watched as it flew ahead of him crossed the jersey barriers bounced thru the opposite lanes a couple of times and then into the river below I-70.

I then watched him come to a stop on the shoulder and his truck then stop and slump down onto the driver side grill. I pulled in behind him and walked to the front of his vehicle, I couldn't see him from the driver side window without getting down on my knees so I walked to the front where I saw an extremely pale white man with a white knuckle death grip on the steering wheel. I was in uniform and had to wave my arms and shout at him several times to get his attention.

I asked if he was ok and he nodded in affirmation but was speechless for at least the next 5 mins. I called dispatch and had them send a city unit out since we were just inside city limits to assist him until a tow truck could arrive to tow him. After the shock wore off I asked the guy what he thought had happened and he said he had just had some work done on the U-joints at Dodge and they must not have secured the assembly correctly.

When the city unit showed up I bolted for the county offices and had a great story to share with the other deputies on duty.

One of many interesting stories of I-70 freakishness

One thing I have noticed this year is blown out semi truck tires are more frequent (just my experience from driving on interstates) than I could remember, and having to avoid running it over. Anyone else experience the same problem/situation?
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What's the deer thing about? What are you supposed to do when about to hit a deer?

Stand on the throttle? :shrug:

Pretty much sums it up. Could have been a heck of a lot worse.

I was sitting at a bus stop one day years ago when a ratty 66 Chevelle pulled up to the stop sign. He decides to show off and do a burny off the line. Within the first second, his right rear tire decides it has had enough and leaves the car. It must have flown 20 feet straight up while the car settled onto the axle and slide across the street. Noone was hurt, other than the kid's feelings I am sure.

That is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

When I was in high school on a field trip, we had a back wheel come off our bus while driving up I-5, south of Seattle. It was weird to watch the wheel actually pass us before heading off into the median. I don't think it made it into on-coming traffic, though.

So glad to hear everyone is ok cdcox, and glad it wasn't a big truck tire.

I used to drive a conversion van, coast to coast.

One time I was cruising along on the interstate, at dusk, and a big old truck tire passed me, pretty soon it started bouncing and went off in the ditch. Then shortly after, the truck passed me, and didn't realize he was missing a wheel. I pulled up and waved him over, then he had the nerve to ask me to go help him find it.

Uh no, I had already done my good deed and needed to get down the road. I mentioned this to a few people since, including a highway patrolman, and they said it is very common, and it causes a lot serious accidents.

Keep driving straight staying in your lane. The deaths happen when people try to swerve, lose control and plow into something much bigger.

It is less painful for you, cars are cheap compared to that.
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Damn. That had to suck.

I got my brakes replaced for free by the students in shop class, at the HS I graduated from. That was the deal. If you did work on cars while you were in shop class, you could have minor work done on your car anytime you wanted after you graduated.
Anyhow, they forgot(I hope) to tighten the lugs tight enough.
My wheel came off at about 65 on a back road in TN.
The wheel went off the road, into a ditch, out of the ditch, through a harvested cornfield, over a large hill, and took out one of the columns of a covered car port, on a house around the bend up the road about a 1/4 mile, that I couldn't even see. Supposedly, there was a redneck cpl sitting in lawn chairs about 10 yards from the column when it happened. They said they saw the wheel come screaming over the hill, and through their column. I'll bet that was a trip. lmoa.

must have been tired

The windshield shattered but held. I guess the decapitated lady's windshield did not. It was a heck of a sight, that big assed truck tire tread smashing into the glass. I remember trying to duck down in the seat while I hit the brakes. The State Trooper came along shortly after and he escorted me into Fort Smith to a repair shop. I followed along behind him with my head hanging out the window, feeling lucky to be alive.

I had to bite the big one and run over a ladder at highway speeds. Those tires lasted another year. Glad I was driving a 4 wheel drive truck.

Man, this interstate travel is just getting too dangerous. Tonight we were driving through IL and a truck a couple vehicles in front of me throws a tire. There was about 2 seconds of chaos during which time a car from the other lane swerved in front of me, he slammed on the brakes, the tire came from under his car and hit the front end of our car, and I slammed on the brakes and swerved into the lane he came from on pure reflex. No collisions and no loss of control of our car. I pulled off at the next exit and the bumper has some marks from the tire and it broke in a few places where it looks like it was designed to break it you hit something.

This makes 3 adrenaline pumping incidents on the interstate in 15 months.

Since it's you I have to ask you:What were the odds?

(And god bless)

PhilFree:arrow:

Ditch the car and get one of these!

http://www.edinformatics.com/inventi...rams_front.jpg

Obviously the odds aren't long enough. But I won't complain since we've been fortunate enough to emerge with zero injuries.

I used to love that Road Blasters arcade game. If the tank would do 75 MPH, and I could get Frazod to man the gun, that would be the way to travel.

You need to put one of these on the front of all your vehicles.

http://www.800toolbox.com/grill_guard/gril_guard-3.jpg

What are the odds of THAT? :)

I'm glad you're OK CD, stay safe out there. Its ****ing 4 legs season out here. They're cutting the corn and the bastards are everywhere.
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