Video: Lost tire shatters car windshield on Toronto highway
Published April 17, 2023 at 8:58 pm
A tire flew off a truck on a Toronto highway and shattered the windshield of an oncoming car.
A video of the runaway tire released by the OPP Highway Safety Division starts with a simple dashcam view as a driver makes their way toward Yonge St. on a swiftly moving Toronto highway. Whether this is Hwy. 401 or Hwy. 407 is unclear from the footage and unspecified by police.
Driver of the truck had his tires changed about two weeks before they came off on the highway.
The 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. pic.twitter.com/0wHYpf39f5— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) April 18, 2023
The incident occurred around 2 p.m. on Apr. 14.
As the car rounds a bend in the highway, the tire suddenly appears bouncing over the median barrier in front of the car. Within a heartbeat, the tire smashes into the front of the car shattering the windshield.
The OPP next showed a still of the damage to the vehicle. The impact of the tire completely demolished the passenger-side headlight, leaving a massive dent in the hood and siding.
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Next, the video cuts to a road camera high above the thoroughfare. On the fire left side of the shot, a white pickup truck can be seen veering to the side as the tire detaches while almost under the overhead highway sign.
The tire bounces across numerous lanes of traffic and the median before striking the other car and bouncing high into the air.
Narrating the video, Highway Safety Media Officer Kerry Schmidt says the truck driver told police, “He had his tires changed by a buddy about two weeks earlier.”
“Many people are changing their tires from their winters to their all-season or their summer tires right now,” Schmidt continued, “Make sure they’re installed properly and after driving a short distance make sure every single one of those tire fasteners is torqued properly.”
The springtime transition has been an eventful one on GTHA highways, with police reporting numerous unusual events from a roller-skater flipping off police on Hamilton’s Hwy. 403 to drivers heading across the grass to enter the highway in Brampton.
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