Joe Varner narrowly escaped what could have been a serious accident driving southbound on I-35 when the car ahead of him swerved to dodge rubber debris.
"All of a sudden, the car goes crazy," said Varner. "I'm thinking we're fixing to dodge a wreck. I don't know what's going on. Sure enough, I'm running over a tire."
J.B. Hunt driver Olen Tussey, knows all too well what it's like to be behind the wheel of a truck during a tire blowout. He had one three weeks ago.
"You hear this big giant pop," Tussey said. "It actually blew out my airbag for my air suspension."
The tire on Tussey's trailer was a recapped, or a retreaded tire. Retreads are essentially used tires with new treads glued on. While Tussey and others said they trust retreads as they do regular tires, damaged or poorly maintained retreads are especially dangerous in 100degree heat.
With the asphalt reaching temperatures near 120-degrees, glue between the tire and the tread can heat up and liquify. If the tire pressure is too low or too high, the tread may actually start to break apart. In fact, entire treads can come lose, and TxDOT says that's not uncommon during the summer months.
"The road is staying much hotter for longer and that's had an impact on the tires," said Waco TxDOT spokesperson, Ken Roberts. "As a result, we get a lot more shredded tires or 'gators' on the roadways."
Roberts said TEXDOT routinely sends crews to pick up road debris, but it's hard to keep everything clear on I-35 with the amount of big rig traffic.
"We got an awful lot of trucks, which means there's an awful lot of tires," Roberts added.
A good way to avoid tire blowouts and retread accidents in the first place is to check tire pressure often. Tussey and others recommend tires on 18-wheelers to be inflated to about 100 psi.
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source: www.kxxv.com (Brennan, 8/24)
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