Retreads

On the way to work this morning, I decided to count the number of retread tires that have littered the path of my commute. It just seemed that I have been seeing more and more of these shredded chunks of rubber and metal. I theorized that with summer's warmer weather there may be more trucks on the roads or that the increased temperature of the road may be causing these band-aids-posing-as-tires to disintegrate.

In the first 10 miles of my highway commute, I counted no fewer than 16 different debris fields. It is challenging to get an accurate count of how many tires actually fell off of their vehicles since these cheap alternatives to safe tires tend to explode into dozens of pieces, and when these weapons explode off of a rim, the remnants often are disbursed over large areas. So 16 is actually a conservative estimate of the body count. I stopped counting after 10 miles because I was distracted with the vision of some 18-wheeler driving down the highway with only its 2 front tires remaining.

These things are dangerous. I once was near a tractor-trailer that suddenly, without warning, started firing large and small projectiles in every direction. The car in front of me got nailed with a large piece of tread, no doubt leaving a dent and taking acres of paint off. I'm thankful that my car only suffered minor surface wounds from the deadly shrapnel.

I wonder if these retread tires are as big of a problem as I perceive. Maybe it is just me that thinks these retreads are a significant issue. If they are a problem though, I would not issue a plea for new laws or regulations. I'm guessing that it is already a traffic violation to drive on dangerous tires. I'm guessing current laws are adequate to prosecute such an offense in the civil and/or criminal courts.

It seems to me that it would be difficult to hold the owner of the now naked rim accountable if you don't know who that is. It would be almost impossible to identify the truck with the naked rim, if you ended up in the ditch with a smashed windshield or if your own tires were deflated from such a missile. That would make it pretty hard to pursue the truck for its license plate or other identifying information. Maybe I'll just need to install a dashboard mounted camera in my car so I can clearly document these drive-by attacks.

Do the truck owners and drivers that utilize these unreliable and unpredictable retreads care? Even if it was proven that damage was caused by their tire, would they take responsibility and repair the harm caused? It is hard to think they would demonstrate such character and nobility since they don't even clean up the mess they create.