We’ve experienced firsthand the incredibly destructive force of a runaway wheel and seen them kill innocent motorists too many times. Thankfully this incident in the UK didn’t result in a fatality, although the wheel was only inches away from peeling the BMW driver’s head off along with the roof.
Mustang catches air while running from police.
You can see in the image of the Bimmer that the windshield stood no chance of stopping the wheel, which came off a Ford Transit van, hopped the median, and went into oncoming traffic on a stretch of road near Liverpool. It reportedly just barely missed the driver and thankfully there was no passenger in the car.
A Daily Mail report claims the Ford Transit was stolen. Police wouldn’t confirm that, but they did tow the van away and said it “may be stolen.”
As for the drivers of the van, that person was long gone by the time police showed up on the scene. That added fuel to the suspicion that the vehicle was in fact stolen.
How exactly the wheel came off isn’t apparent. Sometimes, people just lightly tighten the lug nuts, mistakenly believing they don’t need to apply any more torque. There’s a reason every manufacturer has a torque spec for wheel lugs. So go get yourself a torque wrench if you’re paranoid about your wheel coming off as you’re driving.
It’s possible the van, having been stolen, was involved in another accident that damaged the wheel or axle, causing it to later come off. There’s side damage on the van right in front of the wheel that came off, making us wonder if that was a contributing factor.
Ultimately, this is a reminder to pay attention while driving and if you see a runaway wheel, avoid a collision with it.
Images via NW Motorway Police/Facebook
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