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

[beppington]

Right at midnight. I was the only car within prob 1/4 mile ahead or behind, so it was pretty dark except right where my headlights shone, ie my lane only. No streetlights or city glow. I was in the middle lane of the 3 lanes. At 76 mph I whizzed right by a big rig's spare tire/rim laying right in the middle of the fast lane

Not 1,000' ahead was a small car pulled over on the shoulder with the driver out & checking the front of his car. I bet he had hit it. Did not look happy.

Can you imagine what that would do to a car??

Anyway, I wasn't sure what to do ... ?? Who do you call? How do I tell them where it was??

Man that really woke me up.

 

[dusty3030]

I always call the highway patrol / state police non emergency line for something like that.
On the interstate give them what intersate you are on, what direction you were heading (example I40 west bound) and just keep an eye open for the next mile marker sign (example, I40 westbound, just east of mile marker 51).

 

[Dr_Zinj]

What Dusty said.

Depending on the situation (traffic, visibility, my physical condition that day, etc.) I have been known to pull over and drag the hazard off the roadway.

Alternatively, you could drop a couple road flares starting a few hundred feet up the road.

Keep in mind, this is a nasty way for someone to set up highway robberies. Either you crash into the tire and disable your car, or you get out of your vehicle and they jack you then. What kind of a world do we live in that we have to take those things into consideration before doing an act of kindness?

 

[jwstewar]

It wasn't a tire, but I hit a deer that had already been hit. I was following a jacked-up 4x4 and he just straddled it, but when I hit the deer it was like Dukes of Hazzard. The car jumped up in the air and came back down with sparks a flying. I bet I easily was off the ground 3 or 4 feet and it came down hard. I stopped and took a look at the car and a car behind me had done the same thing. About that time a patrol pulled over behind it with his lights on. Only thing it did to the car was knocked the bulb loose in the left front turn signal. When I got to work I could smell deer cooking where I skinned the deer as I went over. The car was a '97 Honda Accord and another deer finally took it out in Dec. '07 at 252k miles.

 

[jonyyuma]

A regular PU wheel can take out the oil pan..Don't ask me how I know this...Seems everthing can slip up under the new cars or break the air dam off it?

 

[grnspot110]

A MO Department of Conservation agent was nearly killed north of KC several years ago when a wheel came of a truck, rolled across the medial & hit his car! ~~ grnspot

 

[Ductape]

Imagine hitting that while riding a motorcycle...............

 

[Gator6x4]

A couple of years ago I was South bound in heavy traffic on I-295 around Jacksonville Fl. A wheel came of a large truck in the outside lane. It bounced up into the air and was coming fast. I applied the brakes hard and the wheel went across about two feet in front of me. It wiped out a section of the guard rail in the median when it struck. People behind me were giving me the I-Q sign and the balled fist salute. I must have disappointed them by not strking or hitting the tire.

 

[PILOON]

Possibly my closest call on the road was when a semi wheel bounced across the median wobbled towards me at about 80MPH with me also doing 80 in opposite direction.
I relive it often.
Do anticipate and turn left? right? brake? accelerate?
As the gap closed it took a bounce and hopped over my hood into the ditch.

My revenge was to load it and sell it at the next trailer stop.
Got $50.00 for my efforts.

 

[s219]

While on the way back to VA after visiting my folks in CT, my wife and I were doing about 75mph on one of those narrow crowded lousy "parkways" in the CT/NY/NJ area. All of a sudden I saw a truck tire/wheel laying flat on the left edge of the fast lane which I was in. Of course there was an 18-wheeler right next to me in the other lane, and nowhere to go. I basically had to get as close to the 18-wheeler as I dared and just kissed that tire/wheel with the side of my left front wheel. It left quite a smudge on my wheel, which I could only get off with mineral spirits the next day. That was a tight squeeze. I hate the highways in that part of the country.