'Scary' OPP Video Shows Wheel Smash Into Vehicle On GTA Highway & The Result Was A Miracle
A new video from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) serves as an important safety reminder to drivers changing from winter to all-season tires as we enter the spring and summer driving seasons.
Dashcam footage captured on a GTA highway shows a wheel flying off a pickup truck and bouncing down the road before smashing into the front of another vehicle, and narrowly missing several others.
In the video from Friday, April 14, OPP Sgt Kerry Schmidt explained that the "scary incident" happened at around 2:00 p.m.
As with any Friday afternoon in the GTA, the highway was full of vehicles and it's a miracle no one was seriously hurt or killed by this flying wheel.
You can see from the dashcam footage that as the driver moves along in the furthest left lane, the tire ahead came flying off and nearly skipped the median before taking one more bounce just in front of their vehicle.
That bounce might've been the difference between the wheel striking the hood of the car and coming right through the windshield.
\u201cDriver of the truck had his tires changed about two weeks before they came off on the highway. \nThe two people in the other vehicle were not injured. If you are changing to your summer times make sure they are installed properly, and double check they are tight.\u201d— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP Highway Safety Division) 1681776832
"The two people in the other vehicle were not injured," reads the tweet from the OPP Highway Safety Division.
"The white pickup truck who lost that wheel said he had his tires changed by a buddy about two weeks earlier," Sgt Schmidt explained in the video. "Again, many people are changing their tires from their winters to their all seasons or their summer tires right now. Make sure they're installed properly."
Schmidt suggested that after you have your tires changed and you've driven a "short distance," you should go back and make sure every wheel fastener has been tightened properly.
It's unclear if the driver of the pickup truck is facing any charges in connection with Friday's incident, but according to the Infrastructure Health & Safety Association, drivers can be fined anywhere between $2,000 and $50,000 for wheel separations.
