Big rig tire in the middle of the I-75 fast lane last midnight

[joshuabardwell]

Once, on a long night drive, the semi in front of me hit a deer and laid it down in the road. I went over it before I even knew what happened. I put it between the wheels and the car "surfed" over it. We pulled off at the next exit to inspect the vehicle, which is how I know the big rig ahead of me laid it down. He was inspecting his vehicle too!

Anyway, no harm was done and we finished the drive, with the smell of deer guts cooking on the firewall to keep us company. It was only months later that I noticed that the driver's side footwell of my back seat was bulged up from where we hit that deer.

 

[two_bit_score]

Two minutes to remove a tire that could cost a life. I don't care how busy the road was. The lazy way out is to report the incident to the police. The right thing to do is get off your butt and move it for others to make it safe. Too many " me, me , me , " people without the consideration of others.
I have removed tires, plywood, metal, 4x4s from flat bed trailers, and still live to tell about it. I like to think it is a small contribution to a very busy world.

That's easy to say but is very dangerous. I travel I35 between Austin and San Antoino and I10 between San Antonio and Houston and I would never recommend anyone try to remove anything from the freeway. Especially at night. You need to have some emergency lights, etc. Even then it's dangerous.

Our firm handled a case a few years back where a guy got ran over on US 59 north of Houston trying to pick up a car hood from the freeway at night. He wanted it or the scrap value. Got hit by two cars.

In Texas DPS has a Toll free number people can call to report stuff like that or broken down motorists.

I call frequently but I never stop. It would have to be very unusual circumstances to cause me to stop.

 

[kiotiken]

Two minutes to remove a tire that could cost a life. I don't care how busy the road was. The lazy way out is to report the incident to the police. The right thing to do is get off your butt and move it for others to make it safe. Too many " me, me , me , " people without the consideration of others.
I have removed tires, plywood, metal, 4x4s from flat bed trailers, and still live to tell about it. I like to think it is a small contribution to a very busy world.

I've always told my wife that if she gets a flat on the highway to just go slow to keep control and keep driving until she can get off, I'll happily buy a new rim, it's only a couple hundred bucks. This is one of the main reasons both set of tires for her car (winter/summer) are now run flats. Likewise, I'm not stopping either, for a flat or any other reason. COPS get hit all the time with their lights flashing, so what makes you think you won't. It's simply not worth the risk for me if I'm alone, and I certainly wouldn't think of stopping with my kids/family in the car.

 

[beppington]

Two minutes to remove a tire that could cost a life. I don't care how busy the road was. The lazy way out is to report the incident to the police. The right thing to do is get off your butt and move it for others to make it safe. Too many " me, me , me , " people without the consideration of others.
I have removed tires, plywood, metal, 4x4s from flat bed trailers, and still live to tell about it. I like to think it is a small contribution to a very busy world.

At ~75 mph I would've been well down the road by the time I could pull over & stop.

And, no desire to back up on an interstate (illegal anyway), even on the shoulder, so I would've had to walk all the way back (1/4 mile? 1/2 mile?) & wait until it "seemed" safe to cross the 2 outer lanes to get to the inner lane, try to stand the wheel up fast as h3ll & roll it off the road.

I don't think I could stand to take my eyes off the road for cars & BIG RIGS(!) coming at me in order to do anything else anyway ... You have to assume cars are going 80+ mph, which is closing very, very fast on an object in the road (me! ).

I would like to be helpful, but it's just not worth the risk.

 

[two_bit_score]

At ~75 mph I would've been well down the road by the time I could pull over & stop.

And, no desire to back up on an interstate (illegal anyway), even on the shoulder, so I would've had to walk all the way back (1/4 mile? 1/2 mile?) & wait until it "seemed" safe to cross the 2 outer lanes to get to the inner lane, try to stand the wheel up fast as h3ll & roll it off the road.

I don't think I could stand to take my eyes off the road for cars & BIG RIGS(!) coming at me in order to do anything else anyway ... You have to assume cars are going 80+ mph, which is closing very, very fast on an object in the road (me! ).

I would like to be helpful, but it's just not worth the risk.

Even if you could have pulled over immediately, drivers on the interstate at night aren't looking for pedesterians on the roadway at night.

Its likely you trying to move it would have caused an accident even if you didn't get killed in doing so.

.

 

[Furu]

Two minutes to remove a tire that could cost a life. I don't care how busy the road was. The lazy way out is to report the incident to the police. The right thing to do is get off your butt and move it for others to make it safe. Too many " me, me , me , " people without the consideration of others.
I have removed tires, plywood, metal, 4x4s from flat bed trailers, and still live to tell about it. I like to think it is a small contribution to a very busy world.

Hope your life insurance is paid up because you do that enough and your spouse will get it. The safety experts all state to contact the authorities and to never go out into the middle of an interstate to remove debris by yourself.

Interestingly I had to go to Georgia earlier this month and was amazed at the collection of truck tires in the middle of the road and on the side of the road. I actually asked if it was the road surface, the temperature or what that was causing so many tire failures. I have never seen so many tires in the middle of the road in my life. I counted 7 tires in the middle of the lanes between Savannah and Atlanta in four hours and the sides of the road had more rubber on them than they did asphalt. I was told that DOT funding was so low that they could not afford to go out and have work crew remove the debris.
Going back and forth from Washington to Oregon and California and Washington to Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado I rarely see tires in the road, less than one a day and the sides of the road are comparatively clean of debris. I guess we are spoiled with our DOT but we do pay lots of taxes to support it.

 

[yandeereguy]

getting out of a car on I-75 or 94 in detroit.. hope you have life insurance

 

[JDgreen227]

Didn't see this thread until just now...reminded me of the time the wife and I were going from Nashville TN. back to Michigan, we had just gotten north of Louisville and the freeway was 3 lanes, I was in the center lane and following a semi and the semi switched lanes quickly, much to my dread there was a big banded pallet of something smack in the center lane 500 feet ahead...doesn't sound like much of an issue but I was pulling a 6500 pound TT behind my F 150, I was very lucky because there was an open spot on the slow lane and I had just enough time to move over...

Yes, I wanted to pull over and remove the item to prevent an accident but HOW DO YOU DO THAT IN HEAVY 75 MPH TRAFFIC?

 

[RoMad]

This is what the OP said "Right at midnight. I was the only car within prob 1/4 mile ahead or behind," I drive on I-75 plenty and in those conditions I would have either backed up and moved it out of the road or turned around and went back. If I was in heavy traffic then I would have done something different, but it wasn't heavy traffic and it would have been out of the road in a matter of minutes.
Maybe it is against the law to back up on the side of the interstate, but I think a FHP would forgive you if you were getting a tire and wheel out of the road. Its against the law to go 76MPH on I-75 also.
I got my favorite life jacket off of the side of I-75. It must have blown out of someones boat. I saw it, pulled over safely and backed up and got it.
Sorry if I am running against the grain of popular opinion here, but some of the comments here sound like they came from a safety thread.

 

[joshuabardwell]

You say "safety" like it's a bad thing. There's a time and place for calculated risks, sure, but I can't fault anybody for not wanting to be on the interstate on foot.