I had an experience on this morning's commute that made me think of Carl,>>and the "out-of-nowhere," scenario.>>

Driving along, about 50mph in the left lane on an urban street. A truck>>ahead of me, in the right lane, slows to make a right turn. I hear a>>squealing sound, see a puff of smoke, and the next thing I know, one of>>the truck's wheels is rolling across my lane at a couple miles an hour.>>It wasn't just a tire -- the whole freakin' wheel had come off, and was>>upright, slowly rolling perpendicular to my lane. I slam on the brakes,>>but there's no way I'm going to slow from 50-0 in 20 feet. I make a>>habit of keeping an escape route open. I dodge to the right, missing>>the tire by a foot. I was probably going 35(?) when I passed it. That>>would've left a pretty big mark on my bumper. Heck, maybe I even>>avoided injury -- the tire could've flipped up over my hood and gone>>through my driver's side windshield. My S2000 is a pretty low vehicle,>>and that was a pretty huge wheel.>

it would be "unsafe" to run out into traffic>> to try to retrieve it (at least, that's the excuse>> Truckers give when you ask them why they don't>> remove their "Alligators" from the road).