Cornered by Mike Baldwin for November 02, 2019

That’s a very bad “brake”.

When wheels come off, they roll forward—faster than the vehicle they came off. Don’t ask how I know. Don’t want to think about it. It was a bad time.

I’ve never seen a wheel come off. But every time I see a huge strip of rubber peeled off a poorly retreaded truck tire, I think of the catastrophe it might have caused. (I love that part of the NJ Turnpike where trucks and cars get separate roadways and can no longer endanger each other.)

I had a VW stop on an interstate on a bridge. When I passed him I knew why. I followed his tire about 1/4 mile until it rolled off the shoulder.

We were passing a semi on the highway when a stone was flung from one of it’s wheels straight through our rear passenger window. A split second earlier and all that glass would have been in my face instead.

I’ve had a heavy block of wood fall off a truck, skip on the road, and fly up and skid on my hood, hit the windshield, loosen the strip, dent the roof and skid on my trunk, all in a matter of seconds….now that’s nuts, going 65 MPH!

Today’s strip isn’t funny…..at least not to anyone here in Maine. In April of this year a young Maine State Trooper was killed by a tire that came off a tractor trailer. Do a Google search for more information.

Once I saw one- didn’t actually SEE it dislodge from the truck, but the wheel was rolling down the middle of the road! Imagine a giant wheel just rolling on down the road by itself at 50 miles an hour. It could have done some serious damage. Another trucker saw it and swerved over so it would hit his truck and stop.

There have a couple of instances of flying tires on highway 401 in Ontario on the local news the past few years, as dash-cams make can attest. Scary stuff.

Happen to me! I didn’t see it come off, but bouncing down the inter-state. It bounced over my right fender. A matter of seconds! I had an guardian angel with me that day.

Aside from the entire strip of tread on the road, I’ve seen wheels with no tire attached, and, my favorite, a driveshaft in the middle of the lane!!!

I really hate that game.

I watched one come off an oncoming 18 wheeler in a curve , pass him up and cross over the road directly in front of me , had I not braked it would have come thru my windshield. Being in a 1988 Honda Accord , my wife and I probably would not have survived … looked like it was still going 50 mph.