Dual Wheel Assembly Comes of Truck and Crashes Through Windshield

Last year in Ottawa, a man was killed instantly by a dual assembly tire that had come off a commercial truck and struck his van. The tire, apparently, bounced over the median and struck the van oncoming. The windshield was instantly shattered and the roof was peeled back like a can of sardines. Both the driver of the truck and the company that employed him were cited for failing to perform an adequate inspection before going on delivery. The man, who was the father of two, would likely not have lost his life had the company performed the routine inspection thoroughly and completely as required by law.

Another Driver Recounts the Scene 

As the tire came barreling into oncoming traffic, another driver on the highway thought he was done for. Before the tire could strike his vehicle, it seemed to hook around his car and strike the van. These tires routinely weigh over 100 pounds. We can assume that the tire was traveling at least 50 mph. If the force of the collision is absorbed through the windshield, the driver of the vehicle absorbs over 63,000 lbs/ft of force. In other words, whichever vehicle was struck by the tire never stood a chance.

Flying Tire Accidents 

Flying tire accidents may seem like completely random events, but there’s a reason why the governments of both the U.S. and Canada demand inspects of the wheels and tires before a truck goes out on delivery. If the tire comes off the truck at high speed, jumps the divider, and makes its way into oncoming traffic, then, if it manages to strike a vehicle, the people in that vehicle are likely going to die. The force of these crashes is off the charts and when the tire goes through the windshield, all that glass is going to explode right in someone’s face. The result is a nearly instantaneous death. When you’re talking about rush hour traffic and there are a lot of vehicles out on the road, the chances that the tire is going to strike one of them are very high.

Additionally, the physics of these accidents aren’t the way that most people think. The force of the blow is the same as it would be if the vehicle was stationary because the vehicle absorbs the same amount of force regardless of whether or not it’s moving toward the object it collides with or it isn’t.

On top of that, these accidents can largely be prevented by performing routine diagnostics on the truck before it leaves for a delivery. When these accidents do happen, the blame is always laid squarely on the trucking company.

Talk to a Defective Tire Attorney Today 

Sometimes it’s not the tires that are defective, it’s the people tasked with installing them or maintaining the vehicles that they are attached to. In that case, you are still able to recover damages for the accident. Talk to the Coral Gables tire defect attorneys at Halpern, Santos & Pinkert today for more details.

Resource:

ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/anatomy-of-a-highway-tragedy-two-years-later-fatal-wheel-separation-results-in-small-fines-few-answers

https://www.tiredefectattorney.com/exploding-tire-raises-insurance-questions-in-virginia/