US: Mysterious object smashes car on I-75

[Keit]

_http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100907/NEWS01/309070010/Did-runaway-tire-smash-car-

MIDDLETOWN – Police now think it likely a tire struck a vehicle on northbound Interstate 75 between Ohio 122 and 123 overnight, hospitalizing two women.

Troopers have not been able to locate the object, but they suspect it was a tire that came off another car on the other side of the highway.

"We are about 90 percent sure that's what happened, based on the damage we are seeing," said Trooper Stan Jordan of the patrol's Lebanon post.

The women suffered minor injuries when the object slammed into their Chevy Aveo with Alabama license plates about 12:30 a.m., the dispatcher said.

They were taken to Miami Valley Hospital, treated and released. Their names and ages were not available.

The car was extensively damaged. The front windshield shattered, and the roof caved in, the dispatcher said.

 

[ScottD]

A tire? This does not compute! That's the most logical explanation they could come up with?

 

[Laurentien2]

A tire? This does not compute! That's the most logical explanation they could come up with?

It could well be possible, a truck tire is well over 100 pounds, imagine the impact it can do when it travel at a speed of 50, 80 or even 100 km/hrs and hit a car traveling in the opposite direction at a similar speed.

 

[pete02]

The first thing that comes to my mind is that a Chevy Aveo is a small vehicle and a tire (depending on the size of it) rolling in the opposite direction could hit with significant impact and cause the damage described. Remember if the Aveo is moving at 50 or 60 mph and a tire coming from the opposite direction is moving at a similar speed that would just about double the impact speed. Still this should have left some signs of rubber or tread marks on the car.

Not finding the tire is of course very strange as it seems it shouldn't have rolled too far from the crash site assuming that the impact should have slowed it down and then there is also the other vehicle. How far could that vehicle have gone with only 3 tires? Wouldn't they have had to stop too? I remember as a small child seeing a tire come loose from a Lincoln Continental and the car kept driving away but apparently this was from the weight of the car. It somehow just managed to ride level even without that extra wheel but they don't make cars like that anymore and many of them nowadays are very dependent on their suspension so losing a wheel should have incapacitated the vehicle.


Edit: I just read Laurentien's post and thats a very good point. If it were a tractor trailer then it could have continued without noticing the loss of a wheel for quite some time and yes, the size of that tire would definitely cause major damage on a small vehicle like an Aveo.

 

[ScottD]

Truck tires are secured by an array of lug nuts, so having one completely come off would take a lot of work I would think. I suppose anything is possible but what bothers me is that the roof of the car is caved in, not the hood, which would mean a downward impact and not a horizontal. Not seeing a picture of the actual damage can only lead to speculation on my behalf though.

 

[Keit]

Truck tires are secured by an array of lug nuts, so having one completely come off would take a lot of work I would think. I suppose anything is possible but what bothers me is that the roof of the car is caved in, not the hood, which would mean a downward impact and not a horizontal. Not seeing a picture of the actual damage can only lead to speculation on my behalf though.

Here is another article on the topic, including picture(small one). The damage does appear to have a "round" shape. Also, they mention the possible disabled vehicle spotted in the area.

_http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Tire-Hits-Car-on-I-75-Then-Mysteriously-Disappears/Wrpk3Dz3B0aN03ayqnh7lA.cspx

Police in Butler County have a mystery on their hands-they can't find the errant tire they believe is responsible for a freak accident on I-75 Tuesday morning.

Officers think a runaway tire hit a car on I-75 between Middletown and Franklin just after midnight, bouncing away from a disabled vehicle and injuring the driver and passenger in the car it hit. Then... it totally disappeared.

The Ohio Highway Patrol found nothing in the car and nothing by the side of the road. But witnesses told police there was a disabled vehicle going southbound which had lost a tire. Police think that tire bounced over into the northbound lane and hit the car. Officers think the tire then bounced back into the southbound lanes where they suspect the original owner found it, put it back on the vehicle, and drove away.

Both people in the car that was hit-Penny Coffman and Linda Angel, where treated and released from a local hospital. Both Coffman and Angel are from out of state.

 

[ScottD]

I guess I lose then :( heh

 

[Laura]

Sometimes the tread can come off a tire and fly loose. If it happens on a big truck - and I've seen pieces of them on the side of the road - it could do some serious damage.

 

[Keit]

I guess I lose then :( heh

Not sure about that yet. Though further info does indicate that perhaps it is not a meteorites related event. But who knows. Here is another mysterious highway story, for example. No pictures this time, though.

 

[ScottD]

Honestly I was thinking more along the lines of blue ice, where it hit, shattered, then melted; hence no evidence.

Yeah Laura, you're from the South so you know about "Gators" but I don't think a chunk would do that kind of damage. I've seen them tear apart plastic/fiber bumpers or shatter a windshield but not cave in a roof. Although, I have seen plenty of other oddities that weren't easily explainable while on the highway.

 

[Guardian]

Where did the tire go?

 

[1984]

The Ohio Highway Patrol found nothing in the car and nothing by the side of the road. But witnesses told police there was a disabled vehicle going southbound which had lost a tire. Police think that tire bounced over into the northbound lane and hit the car. Officers think the tire then bounced back into the southbound lanes where they suspect the original owner found it, put it back on the vehicle, and drove away.

This doesn't make any sense. If your tire 'falls' off' your vehicle, and you are moving at a good rate of speed, you're going to have a very hard time controlling the car. I can't see how that would be called a 'disabled' vehicle. Then, miraculously, the tire is found, (I guess they 'found' the lug nuts that had to have come off to make the tire fall off) and put back on the car and they just drive off into the sunset?

 

[Peam]

The Ohio Highway Patrol found nothing in the car and nothing by the side of the road. But witnesses told police there was a disabled vehicle going southbound which had lost a tire. Police think that tire bounced over into the northbound lane and hit the car. Officers think the tire then bounced back into the southbound lanes where they suspect the original owner found it, put it back on the vehicle, and drove away.

This doesn't make any sense. If your tire 'falls' off' your vehicle, and you are moving at a good rate of speed, you're going to have a very hard time controlling the car. I can't see how that would be called a 'disabled' vehicle. Then, miraculously, the tire is found, (I guess they 'found' the lug nuts that had to have come off to make the tire fall off) and put back on the car and they just drive off into the sunset?

If the tyre came off one of those trucks which have double tyres on each back axle, then one could have come off, rolled and bounced onto the car, and the truck driver could have retrieved it, thrown it on the back of the truck and scarpered quick.
If it was a single tyre, he could have put it back on by taking one nut off each of the other tyres without having to search for the original nuts which would probably be scattered over severel miles, so not worth looking for.
If indeed the tyre explanation is true.

 

[Rhansen]

I have witnessed (and experienced) tires and wheels separate from a moving vehicle before. A fast rolling tire and wheel (holding air) will have a tendency to bounce - a typical heavy truck tire will have 80-100 psi of air. I have seen the aftermath from a semi tire bouncing about 20' into the air and coming down on the hood of one of our company trucks. Not dissimilar to the damage in the picture. Now imagine the added energy of the impact causing the tire to bounce even higher/farther, might be why they can't find it.

As far as a missing tire causing a vehicle to go out of control, it would depend on the weight bias of the vehicle, which tire/wheel came off, and the skill/alertness of the driver. I watched a front wheel come off of an older MGB at highway speed and it harldy upset the vehicle. The wheel rolled/bounced into a ditch and then over a set of railroad tracks. I've had front (truck) tires blow out and barely jerk the wheel (more rear weight bias) and other times a front blowout nearly put me into the ditch or oncoming traffic (I drive commercial vehicles as part of my job).

Whether or not a tire actually did the damage it certainly seems plausible to me.

 

[Laurentien2]

Here is a video of a truck losing a tire and rolling in the opposite lane. It may be hard to look at but those accident happen. The 2 ladies are lucky to be alive if this is indeed what caused the damage on their car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATcBHKqyW_o&feature=related

Tragedy like that are not uncommon

Here another video explaining why truck loose tire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgiSrupfjUU&feature=related