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The daughter of a couple injured when a tire flew off a pickup truck and smashed into their car on Hwy. 401, told CityNews exclusively that her father worried about just such a thing happening.
“He’s always been afraid of that happening – with tires flying off,” Karen Pitt told CityNews. “He talked about it before and he was always afraid that would happen on the highway, so it’s kind of weird that this actually happened.”
The wheel demolished the windshield and roof of a Honda Civic headed west in the express lanes just before 2:30 p.m. Friday.
“A pickup truck travelling eastbound lost the tire and the rim,” Sgt. Dave Woodford said. “The tire went across into the westbound lanes and struck a Honda Civic.”
Woodford said the couple were trapped in the car. Firefighters managed to free the victims and they were taken to North York General Hospital with minor injuries.
“They’re both resting right now,” Pitt said. “They just have to heal from their wounds and bruises.”
Police say the tire bolts on the pickup truck appeared to be loose.
The 23-year-old driver, Trevor March of Bradford, was charged under the Highway Traffic Act for operation of an unsafe vehicle and for the wheel detaching from his vehicle.
“I was driving down the 401 going eastbound near the 404 and my tire just completely fell off my truck bouncing about 20-30 feet high into oncoming traffic and colliding with the vehicle,” March told CityNews.
“I’m just happy no one died.”
The caption for the photo got it right… that the WHEEL came off the vehicle, the tire AND the rim together. This is very different than just a tire coming off a vehicle. I can sort of see this happening on a big 18-wheeler rig, but how in the heck do you not notice a wheel that loose on your pickup truck? Surely there would have been a lot of unusual vibration well before it actually came off? What was the pickup driver thinking? Gee, the truck’s shaking something awful… guess I’ll just keep driving and have someone look at that next week? Glad nobody was seriously injured. The pickup driver is lucky he’s not facing a manslaughter charge.
DonnyB: you are wasting your breath. I agree 100%!! Its insane how many people drive without their full headlights on at night, leaving NO lighting on the back of their vehicle. Drive with a broken or burnt out headlight, drive with their highbeams on, drive with headlights lighting up space rather than the road in front of them, drive with unsafe loads, broken or worn out tie rods and ball joints, the list goes on. People just don’t care.
Now folks, those of you with winter tyres, you will soon be changing over…..after its done, you need to RECHECK the torque of your tires about 50KM’s later. How many actually do?
Re-torquing only really applies to alloys, and even then….a bigger problem is that most people take their vehicles in to a shop to have them swapped over………this is where a potential hidden issue can take place. Not every shop/tech snugs down the nuts(and for European cars..the bolts)and then does a final hand torque with a torque wrench, I have lost track of the times I have witnessed the flagrant use of air guns being used to the extreme and they just crank the buggers down tight, too tight which leads to fatigued studs……..SNAP!!!