Althouse: "It was a wild scene in New Jersey when a wayward tire rolled down the highway until it went flying into a moving vehicle."

July 26, 2019

"It was a wild scene in New Jersey when a wayward tire rolled down the highway until it went flying into a moving vehicle."

You can see the video here, along with the story — which I didn't know when I first saw the video (on the aptly named subreddit on r/fuckyouinparticular) — that no one was seriously injured.

40 comments:

Jaq said...: I saw that one time driving into the mountains right out of Denver, which is a pretty steep climb, and the tire was bounding downhill in the median, I saw it coming, it went by, I never saw where it went.; 7/26/19, 11:05 AM
MadisonMan said...: That's a funny name for the reddit thread.; 7/26/19, 11:09 AM
Temujin said...: That is seriously dangerous. I had that happen to me and my wife a few years ago driving in downtown Atlanta on the way to Hartsfield-Jackson airport to leave for a vacation. A MARTA bus was on the highway (for what reason, I do not know). It was up in our lane, but well ahead of us. Then it lost a tire. The tire just kinda flew backward. If you've ever driven in Atlanta, you know there's usually no room to maneuver right or left. The tire came at me quick and I had to just take the hit.

It hit my front grill, ran up the hood, and smashed into our windshield. Then (I guess) it rolled off without any other damage to anyone else. I was still driving, so I raced up close enough to the bus to get it's license plate, but then had to pull over to check the damage. Dented grill. Check. Dented and marked up hood. Check. Cracked windshield. Check.

We were damaged, but I weighed going on one of our few vacations or missing our flight to stay and file a police report. I drove to the airport and left the car there for a week. Failing to file a police report was the mistake. When I got back, I fought with MARTA to cover the claim, but they would not have it.

Looking back- we were lucky. It could have been much, much worse.; 7/26/19, 11:10 AM
Temujin said...: My wife and I.
Jesus. 8 years of English down the tubes. This is what happens when you read too many blogs. time to get back to work.; 7/26/19, 11:20 AM
tcrosse said...: One morning I was driving along I-394 behind a dumptruck which was hauling one of those air compressors that looks like farm tractor without a seat. Sparks were coming from the chains which were keeping it attached, until they let go. This was on an up-grade so the compressor came to a stop and started rolling back, while the dump truck kept on a-going. I managed to stay out of the way of the loose compressor, and went to pass the dumptruck. As I went by I honked and gestured, but the driver gave me the finger. Well, I can imagine him wondering whatever happened to that damned compressor.; 7/26/19, 11:34 AM
Fernandinande said...: I liked the way the wheel's angular momentum kept it stable as it climbed the median.

My wife and I.

It happened to "I"?; 7/26/19, 11:44 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Lots of stuff like this on freeways. I-5 at Grapevine is particularly dangerous.

But even on level grade it can happen. Riding with a group of co-workers after a business lunch, on the 60 Freeway near Pomona, a flatbed trailer let go of a Bobcat which did somersault and landed over in the emergency lane. Unfortunately, its battery had come loose and was bouncing - high - in our lane. The driver ( not me) had no time to react and just squeaked by under it so we missed getting clobbered by it. Had it hit the windshield, none of us would be here.; 7/26/19, 11:53 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: First hand account here too. Driving on I-94 north out of Chicago when a tire and rim came bouncing from the southbound lanes over the median and diagonally across 4-5 lanes of traffic. I could see from the angle, the bounce, and the relative speeds of my car and the loose tire that it was not going to hit me, but a few seconds earlier and it could have been bad. It was hundreds of pounds traveling at 60-70 mph and would have hit at the equivalent of 135 mph. There are recent lawsuits where people were killed by similar incidents where the loose tire crashes through the windshield killing the driver. Hardest part of establishing liability is finding which truck lost the tire.; 7/26/19, 11:56 AM
gspencer said...: Acme tires are the best,

https://www.flickr.com/photos/57581557@N06/15462829151; 7/26/19, 12:07 PM
gspencer said...: Acme tires now available online,

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/03/2c/7c/032c7c982fea3c218ae3c410259cc333--road-runner-cartoon-characters.jpg; 7/26/19, 12:09 PM
Marcus Bressler said...: Driving north on the old Seven-Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys in 1977: the open-bed truck in front of me let loose a piece of corrugated metal that came right at my car, a 69 Corvette with t-tops off. Because there was no one in the oncoming lane, I was able to swerve out of the path of the debris. If not, it would have cost us our heads.

THEOLDMAN; 7/26/19, 12:23 PM
gilbar said...: for Independence Day, i went to see the Gettysburg Battlefield; while in Missouri (on the avenue of the Saints), i glanced ahead, and saw there was something far ahead in the road
i realized it was a tire, standing upright
i wondered HOW it was standing upright?
i realized that it was Rolling, At ME; and about 40 miles an hour
i served, JUST IN TIME.

I was (sorta) prepared for the possibility of road hazards in the middle of my lane
I was TOTALLY unprepared for MOVING (at a HIGH rate of speed,) road hazards coming down my lane
I first thought; wow! that could have dented my grill; then i realized (a minute later) that it'd had a WHEEL inside the tire, and would have probably Killed me (smash up and through)

There was a car pulling a trailer (missing a wheel) skidding to a stop on the other side of the (4 lane, divided) hiway. He'd lost his wheel, at the exact place (slight curve) that sent the wheel into oncoming traffic.
It made the rest of the trip Much more tiresome that i'd wanted it to be. I felt that i'd been put at a Very Bad Place, at The Worst Time
{then, 2 days later, i was At Gettysburg, and saw the 1st Minnesota Infantry* monument, and realized that there were Far worse things in the world than dodging wheels}

1st Minnesota Infantry* 82% causalities in about 15 minutes on 2nd day of Gettysburg; 7/26/19, 12:26 PM
Fernandinande said...: Tires are wheely dangerous, but if tires are outlawed only outlaws will get tired.; 7/26/19, 12:34 PM
Yancey Ward said...: An even better Reddit link for this particular incident is Tires Are The Enemy.; 7/26/19, 12:50 PM
Yancey Ward said...: But I will warn you- there are some disturbing events in that Reddit.; 7/26/19, 12:53 PM
Jersey Fled said...: Wow. The same thing happened to me while driving north on the New Jersey Turnpike several years ago. A wheel and tire came off of a southbound truck, bounced several times, bounce over the concrete divider, and passed between my car and the car behind me.

Fortunately it didn't hit anyone and bounced harmlessly off to the side of the road.; 7/26/19, 1:29 PM
mtrobertslaw said...: That Jeep is one tough vehicle. The Jeep Company should give this guy a new one and use his
damaged Jeep in its ads.; 7/26/19, 1:33 PM
Leland said...: Oh geez (only not to say wow after Jersey Fled); that is frightening just reading the headline. I've had an empty cardboard box blow off a vehicle travelling the opposite way on a highway, and it sheared my mirror off. I've had a ladder fall off a truck in front of me, fortunately staying flat, that I avoided. But a tire is scary. I recall a NASCAR race where a tire landed in the stands killing a spectator.; 7/26/19, 1:36 PM
Michael K said...: My wife had a wheelbarrow come off a flatbed truck and hit her car in the driver's side mirror. Turning onto the freeway. Very lucky she kept control.; 7/26/19, 1:40 PM
daskol said...: Dangerous as hell, but at least it wasn't a surfboard; 7/26/19, 1:43 PM
sinz52 said...: A similar thing happened to me only a few months ago.

I was on the highway at about 70 mph. A tire fell off some truck ahead of me and bounced right into my path before could swerve out of the way in time. Bang! Over $2,000 in bodywork repairs to the front of my car. At least the tire didn't go through the windshield.

At 70 mph, even a rubber tire is quite an impact.; 7/26/19, 2:22 PM
tcrosse said...: As I was motivating over the hill, I saw Maybelline in a Coup DeVille.; 7/26/19, 2:33 PM
Narr said...: Coming up a curve on a local viaduct with my young son with me, a ladder slides off a truck ahead and skids down and across the lanes behind--I was able to swerve around within inches of it, only because there was no one to port . . . up and around the curve so never saw what happened behind me--but as was famously said in Cannonball Run, "What's behind me is not important!"

At the same spot, years before, going the other way I was stopped at the red light. Hot summer day, windows open, the light turns and I start forward, as does the car next to me--really fast. His right rear tire slings a flattened coke or beer can (the old fashioned kind) right through my side window and it flashes across in front of my eyes and bounces to the floor. Again, no harm and no way to stop and take stock. It would have taken out an eye, for sure.

Narr
Better lucky than smart!; 7/26/19, 2:41 PM
Robt C said...: Several years ago I got a load of compost for my garden. I ordered more than I should have and overloaded the trailer. On the way home, going about 60 on the freeway, I noticed the truck behind me suddenly brake. "Huh?" Then I noticed one of the wheels on the trailer had broken loose and rolled by me, going 60. They were adding a lane, and there were many construction workers next to the freeway, and that's where the tire went. There is no more helpless, heart-in-your-throat, feeling than watching that tire go into the midst of the workers. Miraculously, no one was injured.
I still think about it and get chills every time.; 7/26/19, 3:10 PM
mikeski said...: gilbar said...

It made the rest of the trip Much more tiresome that i'd wanted it to be.

Fortunately, that one moment was not as tire-some as it could have been.

...I'll get me coat.; 7/26/19, 3:18 PM
rehajm said...: Driving on the interstate the one piece bed liner of the pickup truck in front of me came loose and flew straight up in the air. I drove right underneath as it was still climbing then I watched it crash to the pavement in my rearview mirror. Our hero naturally escaped unharmed!; 7/26/19, 3:28 PM
Fen said...: My story involves the father-in-law.

Watching as the boat we were towing passes us in the left lane and into an intersection.

Fun times but I have to go feed the Questing Beast so I'll save it for later.; 7/26/19, 3:30 PM
gilbar said...: mikeski said...
Fortunately, that one moment was not as tire-some as it could have been.

believe or not, i didn't mean that pun; i didn't see it either, or i would have changed it; 7/26/19, 4:11 PM
John Scott said...: Not a tire, but..

I've had a few close calls hang gliding. But one time the sport probably saved me from serious bodily harm. I was driving home on the freeway from a day of flying. There was large plank of plywood in the road. When the car in front me drove over it it became airborne. About windshield high. Luckily, my front hang gliding rack took all of the of the impact. It was also luck no one was sitting in the back seat. I had the sun roof open. There were large splinters strewn all over the back seat.; 7/26/19, 4:38 PM
Josephbleau said...: On the Chicago toll roads its common to see overloaded small trucks that look like Jed Clampett on vacation. Say a rolled up carpet under four mattresses with a refrigerator on top. Then you realize that it is not the smart people who are tying these piles down.; 7/26/19, 4:44 PM
PB said...: That's not just the tire but the whole wheel. Tire and rim. Much more dangerous.; 7/26/19, 4:51 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I've never seen that. I did have a semi tire blow up next to me on the interstate earlier this summer. Tread was flying apart as it disintegrated. It was clear that it wouldn't be possible to brake back far enough in time to be safe from the flying debris, so I gunned it ahead of him instead.; 7/26/19, 4:57 PM
iowan2 said...: Wow, Nothing like that has ever happened to me. I must live a shelter life.
Of course I'm not on the freeways everyday like lots of commenters here, Back roads, black tops you just have to watch out for combines.; 7/26/19, 5:18 PM
Narr said...: I stand corrected. Skylark Drive-In, Corinth MS, c. 1972.

Narr
People read this stuff!; 7/26/19, 5:41 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: As PB said it was a wheel, commercial vehicle maybe a 28 inch rim. That might go 200 lbs, probably more. Moving along at what, 50 mph at impact?
When I was working at a car plant in my younger days, people were enjoying a refresher outside in the cool air of the summer evening at lunch, when a passing car hauler lost a wheel at 35 mph. It struck a guy having a smoke leaning against the edge of the building. He burst like a water balloon. MANY people were traumatized. The committee men took up collections among the employees for the family.
That Jeep took a HELLOFA shot, and saved the driver's life.; 7/26/19, 6:25 PM
Big Mike said...: Back in the 1960s a friend and were driving to an SCCA sports car race in his Triumph TR4 when a wheel came off. The wheel was held on by a knockoff spinner, which turned out to still be on the wheel when we retrieved it. The spinner mated to an adapter, which had not been tightened down properly. Very frightening to us in that little car, but luckily the wheel only went a short distance before curving to the right and coming to rest on the shoulder. All the lug nuts were still present, so all we had to do was reattach and drive on.; 7/26/19, 7:35 PM
Kylos said...: In college, my roommates bought an old Dodge Ramcharger for next to nothing. The tires were shot but they were also able to find someone selling a set of off-road tires as well. Only problem is the wheels they were mounted to wrrr the wrong bolt pattern. No problem. As mechanical engineers they quickly fabricated adapter plates to mount to the hubs and were then able to mount the wheels.

After a weekend of off-roading, I ended up driving it home. It wasn’t long before the inner lugnuts holding one of the adapter plates to the hub worked loose and I saw one of the front wheels passing me while going around a curve at 40 mph. There was no controlling it at that point. I was quickly pulled across the other lane and into a guardrail. Fortunately, you slow down pretty quickly when your brakes are in contact with the ground. Very minor damage all around.; 7/26/19, 10:26 PM
Narr said...: But the WORST moment of car malfunction I ever had was driving south on 55 through Jackson MS in the middle of a torrential downpour, wipers ("after-market" the service guy called them with contempt) going full speed, when one of the little metal support arms worked loose enough to snag the other wiper's little metal arm and suddenly I was driving in heavy interstate traffic unable to see anything but two thrashing rubber and metal lozenges--and water.

Luckily (again) I was in the right lane and was able to flash and signal my way off to the side, and when the rain slackened I found my way to a dealer and got new blades. I was shook up, let me tell you.

Narr
Lesson learned; 7/26/19, 10:53 PM
Michael S said...: Summer Driver's Ed in 1973 it was my very first turn behind the wheel. 73 Chevy Impala. Leaving school the instructor navigated me down some of the main roads in the DC suburbs, than after about five minutes we came to the on-ramp for the Capital Beltway and he had me take it. This was about 10 AM so the traffic was free-flowing at the speed limit. Once on 495 he directed me to the center lane. After a few minutes a tanker truck ahead of me ran over a 2x4 in the roadway and it came sailing straight back at us like a spear. Two classmates in the back seat screaming as the Instructor told me to take my foot off the gas and just hold the wheel firm and steady. Frozen with fear my hands didn't budge. Wham - right into that big bumper, the grille, then flipping up and over the roof of the car and into the lane behind us. (Didn't check the mirror to see if it hit anyone behind us) . Needless to say we took the next exit, inspected the car, and changed drivers. No more Interstate test drives for the rest of the course.; 7/27/19, 8:01 AM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Well, at least it wasn't on fire, while rollin' down the road.; 7/27/19, 10:31 AM

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