Crazy Driver, Take Two:
Yesterday, while driving home to Washington state from West Yellowstone, we were on the freeway near Missoula, Montana, and I kept seeing bits and pieces of tires scattered across on the roadway. I'm used to seeing that sort of thing, where entire retreads on big trucks will come loose, and slough off. But this wasn't huge pieces of tire tread - this was bigger and smaller pieces of tire, some only a few inches across, that were skipping and bouncing down the road in front of me, as if it was being kicked up by the tires on cars in front of me. I had to dodge some pieces, to keep from running over them.
As I'm watching the cars in front of me, I notice a fifth wheel trailer was smoking from the right side, near the axle. Trailers are not supposed to smoke like that. I saw lots and lots more tire pieces coming from under that trailer. I got up and passed him, and sure enough, the tire on the passenger side back axle (there are two axles on fifth wheel trailers) had blown, and was disintegrating. The tire was shredding itself into non-existence. This could be very bad, as the pressure from one blown tire on that side could force the other tire to blow, and the entire trailer could flip out of control. I had to let the driver know what was happening. Obviously, he was either inexperienced, not paying attention, or very stupid. Certainly, he was unaware of how to monitor his own rig.
As we pulled up alongside the cab, we waved and pointed down at his tires, gesturing wildly. He waved Thanks, put on his blinker, and started to pull over. We continued on our way, glad to know we'd probably saved a life, or at least saved that driver a lot of expense on damage to his trailer, or someone else's vehicle on the road.
BUT! The story isn't over: A few hours later, after we'd made a few stops, for gas, rest areas, and to have lunch in a small Idaho town, we passed the SAME TRAILER west of Spokane, Washington! The flashers were on, and the guy was driving half onto the shoulder, with another car right in front of him with its flashers on as well. He was driving about 40MPH in a 70+MPH area, with the same tire still blown, and his trailer sagging strongly on that side. He was still driving with that blown tire!
What the heck? I have no idea what his point was - but I have a few guesses: He didn't have a spare, he didn't know how to change his own tire, he was late getting home, or he was just an idiot. I certainly hope nobody was hurt by his stupidity.
Glad to be home, safe and sound. It was a great trip, but these two things show me that common sense is apparently not all that common.
Dave