Myth Busters and truck tires shredding

[dantama]

Did anyone watch Myth Busters last night? They tried to see if an 18 wheeler blowing a tread could really wipe out a motorcycle rider. They propped a dummy rider next to a trailer axle set up and rigged it to blow. It didn't hit the rider, but blew a chunk of tread a couple of hundred feet.

So they figured out what speed the tread must have been flying and rigged another set up to pass a tread through at that speed. Then they set up a dummy head hooked to a pigs backbone behind a car windshield. Aimed the chunk of tread at it and let it fly. It went through the windshield and decapitated the dummy head.

They decided that it wasn't a myth, an 18 wheeler tread could rip your head off on a bike if it came at you right (or wrong).

[dabull]

and here we are just saying, ya know...that would rip your head off....better try and avoid getting hit by a tractor-trailer retread!

[josh]

That was actually a older episode...hopefully a windshield would deflect the angle a bit

[ridemslow]

When I was 16, and just had my operators a short while, I saw a biker lose his head, literaly, when a truck tire blew. I was about 200 yards behind him on the interstate, he was very close to the truck trying to keep a fine misty rain from drentching him any more than it had already. He was close, say maybe 30 feet or so. when the truck tire blew, it also ripped off the mudflap bracket and sent it flying. The guy on the bike lost his head, as the flap/bracket sliced it off clean. His head went one way, body another. The bike stayed upright for a few yards before falling over. The trucker never knew what happened till he was stopped down the road a ways. Being a trucker, this is one of my biggest peeves, following distance. Guess that just goes without saying why.

[dabull]

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeks....makes me want to go by that much faster;)

[kenb]

I have always been wary when riding near trucks. I've had to avoid being hit by chunks of shredded tire after one blew. Kind of an eerie situation, watching the traffic ahead for what they are doing while watching large pieces of tire come at you like frisbees, not knowing which direction they my go. Definitely not anything I would want to go through again.

[goldstar225]

Twenty years ago I was passing a truck in my car when one of the truck tires let go about ten feet ahead of me. That was an absolute sh*tstorm. The closest comparison I can give is that of a grenade detonating except that the tire was of longer duration with chunks flying off for several seconds. It was bad enough in a car, I

[goldstar225]

Twenty years ago I was passing a truck in my car when the truck's tire let go about ten feet ahead of me. That was an absolute sh*tstorm. The closest thing I can compare it to is a grenade detonation, except the blowout was of longer duration with chunks of rubber coming off of the disintegrating tire for several seconds. That is an experience I do not want to repeat on my bike. When you go to pass a truck, make it quick!!

[ells]

I too have been directly behind and 18-wheeler when one let go, fortunately I was in a car but even that was pretty dicey, some of the chunks are on fire and vision can be obscured. Obviously from the reports here it is not that uncommon that at some point an avid highway rider might experience it, from a sufficient distance let's hope.

[dantama]

And as your going down the freeway seeing all the treads sitting in the road, there's a good chance that it gave some other vehicle a good scare when it let loose. And there are a lot of them out there sitting in the road or on the side.

[hollywood]

I read an article a couple of years ago about a rider in Houston who got killed when the spare tire underneath a trailer came loose. I never pass one without thinking of that.....Go Fast!!!

[lost]

it's not just about the truck. More about following too close in general.I was almost taken out by a piece that a car threw at me. I was moving up to pass and because I was as close as I was I didn't see it on the road ahead and when it came out behind there was nothing to do but hang on and hit it straight on. Bit of a surpriser. Had I swerved I would likely have gone down. It's nice to leave enough space so that if something becomes visible after coming out from under the car ahead then there's still time to react but that's in a perfect world and this one ain't there yet.

[johnb]

Never mind a tire blowing, you also have to watch out for debris that they might kick up! I had an experience with a muffler being kicked up by a car that I was following on the parkway at 60 mph. There was other traffic around me so, I couldn't swerve. It was almost like slow motion, but I braced and closed my eyes when it hit the top of my windshield and luckily caught the edge of the roof. It didn't end up in my lap but instead ended up going over the roof. We were really lucky!

[cactusjack]

Some of you may remember the story I told a few months back when I was following a construction truck that lost 2 sections of wrought iron pool fencing that fell off the trailer, hit the ground, then "frisbeed" back across the traffic lane and flipped over the side rail. All this on a flyover ramp 50 feet in the air. One of them came so close to me I instinctively ducked, I thought it was going to take my head off.

[flightdoc]

years ago I was riding north on I95 in Delaware on my way to New Jersey. It was a beautiful day, I was moving along about 65 or so slowly passing an eighteen wheeler. As I pulled up next to the "truck" or rear axles of the trailer one of the tires blew out!!! I swear I sh-t my pants. It was as if a shotgun went off next to my head. My heart didn't stop pounding for 10 miles. I once picked up (with my hand) a one foot long section of truck tire tread laying on the roadside, I couldn't believe how much it weighed. It had to weigh 5 pounds. If that flew off at speed and hit you...I don't doubt it could take your head off.
Another incident happened back in 1973 while I lived in the DC area. a nice Sunday morning 75 degrees out headed south on the interstate, had the road to myself.....a seagul was on the side of the road eating some roadkill stew...as I approached the bird, about 70mph, it took off and crossed in front of me. Bird hit me right in the face!! I have no idea how I kept the bike up and got pulled off into the median and stopped. I sat in the median at least a half hour to get myself together. If that bird had turned his head to look at who was about to kill him...that 5 inch beek would have made a nice hole in my skull.

ALWAYS BE ALERT AND ON THE LOOKOUT.

VIN

[gghost]

In '99 the rear 2 wheels came off a southbound semi doing 60+. While still bolted together, they jumped the grass median and met my little northbound pickup head on. I flipped end over end, rolled a time or two and jumped a guardrail (as in did not touch it), ending up at the bottom of an embankment asking myself "what happened"?

Never did find my glasses. http://s2.images.proboards.com/cool.gif

If it had been on a bike... :'(

[ballast]

http://s2.images.proboards.com/cool.gifI had a flatbed with the metal side sections that were about 4ft by 4ft in front of me on the freeway. He hit a bump and one of them jumped out and slid down the freeway in front of me.

Driving down I-5 headed home one evening and idiot up ahead lost the frickin boat off the top of his van. I slid across 4 lanes and came to rest in front of me.

Both of those happened in a car.

On a bike...I was a little ways behind a pickup doing about 50 and a giant beachball of all things came out of his bed. Obviously would not have hurt to hit it but is shocked the crap out of me. http://s2.images.proboards.com/cool.gif

[ponch]

Broke this guy's legs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ZhR8wnWoM



In '99 the rear 2 wheels came off a southbound semi doing 60+. While still bolted together, they jumped the grass median and met my little northbound pickup head on. I flipped end over end, rolled a time or two and jumped a guardrail (as in did not touch it), ending up at the bottom of an embankment asking myself "what happened"?

Never did find my glasses. http://s2.images.proboards.com/cool.gif

If it had been on a bike... :'(

[strobe]

I know after reading this thread I get by these trucks as fast as possible....always was a bit paranoid passing them, but I push a bit harder now to get by.

[gghost]

Ponch, thats what they probably looked like, except moving even faster. It was early evening so I never saw a thing until they hit me.

[Cajunrider]

Never follow a trailered boat closely. You never know what will fly out of the boat. Empty ice bags, life preservers, unsecured plastic buckets, empty beer cans, etc. Also, following a semi or any vehicle too closely obscures your view of debri on the roadway. Semi's can straddle large pieces of debris and if you are riding the middle of the lane you won't have time to avoid it when you finally see it.

[josh]

To follow up on this, I drive a garbage truck for a living, you wouldn't believe the people that will tailgate a garbage truck. Car's, trucks, motorcycles....Keep in mind that the stuff that sometimes leaks out the back (Garbage Juice) is often more slippery than the best grease you can get, oh ya and it eats everything it comes into contact with


Never follow a trailered boat closely. You never know what will fly out of the boat. Empty ice bags, life preservers, unsecured plastic buckets, empty beer cans, etc. Also, following a semi or any vehicle too closely obscures your view of debri on the roadway. Semi's can straddle large pieces of debris and if you are riding the middle of the lane you won't have time to avoid it when you finally see it.

[faxxxy]

I was 18 years old.
Rinding on the highway... in shorts.. :-/

Truck un front of the car I was following shredded a tire.
The car kicked the tread up and hit me.

Hit me hard.
Ripped the skin off my left leg.

[Cajunrider]

I'll sometimes ride in shortsleeves but never in shorts. A friend was riding 2 up with his wife when a bumblebee got in his shorts. It sounds funny but he was doing 70 mph when it happened. That insect stung him and bit him several times before he pulled over and stopped. It wasn't good and could have killed both of them had he lost his senses and control.

[markusmaximus]

I've not had a close call on a bike (yet), but when I do, I can only hope I remain cool and in control. There's tme to panic later, as some of you have said. A little luck will help too.