THUNDER BAY — A quick-thinking OPP officer drove his police vehicle in front of a set of runaway truck wheels to stop them from colliding with oncoming traffic.
The incident happened Saturday afternoon on Highway 11/17 in Thunder Bay.
An OPP spokesperson credits the quick actions of the officer with averting a potential disaster.
"These things are very large objects coming off a vehicle . . . We have had fatal motor vehicle collisions as a result of wheels coming off. They are super-dangerous," said Tim Penfold, the acting traffic manager for the OPP Northwest Region.
Video of the incident, taken from the police vehicle, shows the wheels detaching from a transport truck and rolling toward the opposite lane.
Penfold said the officer who intervened was on routine patrol when he noticed the tractor-trailer being driven fairly slowly in the passing lane, with its hazard lights flashing.
"He turned around to do a traffic stop to find out what was going on, and as he was getting up to it the wheels came off the truck. He saw that they were travelling – luckily for everyone involved – very slowly down the centre line – and did put his cruiser into the path in the event that they continued on."
He said the company that owns the transport truck has been charged with permitting the operation of an unsafe vehicle and failing to ensure performance standards are met.
The driver is charged with driving a commercial vehicle with a major defect and driving a commercial vehicle with a part detached.
None of the charges have been proven in court.
Penfold said OPP want to remind all commercial motor vehicle drivers and operators to ensure a pre-trip inspection is properly completed prior to starting a trip.
"If a major defect is detected while in transit, the driver must safely come to a complete stop, and properly repair any found defect prior to continuing the trip. If defects are not repairable at roadside, the vehicle must be towed to a repair facility."
