Did That Really Just Happen?

Have you ever had one of those moments? Those moments where you are kicking yourself for not having your camera because you know that when you try to tell people the story they'll never believe that something that absurd could actually happen? Well, we had one of those moments last night--and, par for the course, didn't have a camera accessible to document the events as they were unfolding. To be fair, the "event" itself isn't that unfathomable, because let's be real, people are idiots all the time, but the sequence of events and culprit were sufficiently absurd, if not comical.

The long and the short of it--some idiot was driving down a 55 mph highway while carrying two tires in a trailer behind his pickup. But not a normal trailer--it was a flatbed trailer with no rear gate (read: nothing to keep the tires from falling out. And they weren't strapped down). As should not be surprising, the unevenness of the road jostled one of the tires to the edge and out it went, right in front of us. Thankfully, Darrell had realized that the tire was about to get loose and had slowed way down. Which was fortunate, because the tire bounced in the road quite a bit (maxing out at a solid fifteen feet in the air) before eventually rolling into the ditch (oh, I should also mention that this was a highway with traffic coming in both directions, so it was fortunate that the car in the other lane was also being attentive and able to slow down once he saw the tire start to bounce).

Now, the things that made this more comical (and surreal) than just an idiot who didn't strap his stuff down properly. For one, his truck was incredibly old school.

photo credit here

In addition to the questionable flatbed trailer with no gate (or even raised sides), this particular truck had a bed cover that was some sort of modified camping trailer (jerry-rigging at its finest), and it appeared that the whole contraption had gone years without a washing. So when the tire worked itself loose and bounced in to the air, it's doubtful the driver would have been able to see anything, even if he had been looking through his rearview mirror. Darrell even laid on his horn to try to get this guy's attention, but no dice. Once we were clear of the tire we sped to catch back up to him--flashers on, horn honking, arms waving him to the side of the road--but he was oblivious. We were finally able to pull up alongside him once he turned off the highway, and discovered the next great comical piece to our story: this driver looked like he was straight out of one of those (ridiculous) reality TV shows set in the Arkansas area, Duck Dynasty and/or Swamp People.

Cast of Duck Dynasty. He looked like the guy in the red--but less cameo and more American flag. Photo credit here

We were finally able to get his attention, and when we informed him that he had lost a tire, he promptly pulled a highly illegal U-turn (we're talking a road with three east-bound lanes and two west-bound, and he went from the outside most east-bound lane to the outside most west-bound lane, cutting us off in the process. Although to be fair, he probably couldn't have made a sharper turn than that). However, more mind-blowing than the illegal U-turn was the fact that at no time did he stop to check the status of the second tire, which was also working itself loose. Additionally, he didn't even ask us where he had lost the tire (we had followed him for at least two miles after he dropped the tire and had been behind him prior to that for at least five), just turned around and started heading back down the highway. Brilliant.

Now, before you run off and enjoy your Friday, I need your help to settle a debate that ensued between Darrell and I after this event. I'm convinced that if Darrell had been driving distracted and not noticed the loose tire, it could have very easily hit our car and--worst case scenario--come through our windshield, driving glass into us if not crushing one of us. Darrell thinks that even at the speeds we were going (probably would have been close to 60 mph if we hadn't slowed down), the impact of the tire on the windshield would not have been forceful enough for it to actually come through the windshield. The glass would break and bow at the impact spot (see image below), but the strength of the double-pane windshield would be enough to keep the tire from breaking through.

photo credit here

So, what do you think? Do you think the tire would have gone completely through the windshield if a collision had happened, or do you think tire would have more or less "bounced" off? I'd really love to test this situation somehow.... Maybe a scenario for Mythbusters? That'd be awesome.