My dad drove a semi, delivering milk to the supermarkets.
One morning he was on the expressway heading toward the south suburbs and came to an overpass being repaired. One lane closed, retaining walls to protect the closed lane.
As he's going over the bridge, the truck veers hard right & smacks the wall. He yanks the wheel back but immediately the truck does the same thing. Of course, he can't stop a 65,000# truck on a dime, so he tries again.
The next time it veers left, there no more retaining wall and he goes off into the median. Truck rolls on its side.
He managed to pull himself out through the passenger window, and plops down knee deep in milk.
A state cop going the other way did a U, and pulled him. He asks my dad if he's OK. My dad said "Yeah, I think so. But I have no idea what happened?" Cops says "I do. Your front left tire flew off the truck. Just as you went onto the bridge."
Fast forward a few hours at the hospital (he had a broken knee cap & partially torn rib ligaments) with the plant manager, the union steward, the union business agent, and a lawyer. In comes a guy trying to show people the paperwork that the tires were properly installed.
The steward told him "Get the fuck out of here. We have a cop as a witness who saw the whole wheel fly off the truck."
Pretty decent settlement from the maintenance company. My dad did miss 8 weeks of work.
BTW: They never found the wheel!. About a mile east on the opposite side was a big drainage pond. They assumed it ended up there.
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