It happened to me recently, I was merging onto I-95 and a truck in the right lane was getting ahead and a tire blew. Wow they make some noise, I was showered with bits of rubber, a large piece wrapped itself around my left shin and a piece dinged my headlight nacelle and left a mark.

 

Glad your ok OP as a truck driver myself when I'm on my bike its pinned when I catch up to a semi and get them behind me quickly.

 

Outstanding job of not dying!
Kudos for keeping the shining side up.

 

retread tires are only against the law on steer axles of commercial passenger buses.

the failure rate of retreads is less than that of virgin tires. the main cause of tread separation is under inflation in both types of tires.

if retreads were not cost efficient, mega fleets would not be using them. if you don't think they have researched the **** outta that, you'd be wrong.

 

Just imagine "split" rims on trucks before...

The locking ring becomes a missile.

 

 

Mu buddy rode down from Virginia to attend Bike Week with me back in the early 90's. On the way a gator smacked him on the leg. Didn't break it but it lamed him up pretty good. Then on the way the Daytona a day later we were passing a tractor trailer on the right side. We were riding staggered and I was closest to the truck. Right as I was adjacent to the rear axles a tire blew. It was like a bomb going off. Scared the crap out of both of us.

I was riding behind a pickup with the mechanic box bed on I-4 one day on my way home from work. I was in my car but still it was something to see. There was a big box in the back right up against the cab. I kept seeing it levitate a little and then sit back down so I backed off. Sure enough it finally just lifted right up and came out of the truck. It hit the highway right in front of me and busted open. There was a brand new Queen Ann style chair inside and it slid on off to the shoulder. I was far enough back to easily avoid it but to see that thing just suck right up out of that truck.

 

Was just watching an old re-run of the TV show CSI the other day. In that particular episode, an obviously dead person was found headless in a go-kart on the side of the road. The CSI's eventually determined that a truck tire exploded and caused the decapitation.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1041251/

 

 

I work in a heavy truck salvage yard. The list of crazy stuff I've seen that breaks, pops, explodes or lights on fire is nuts. I've seen entire axle assembly's break loose after suspension arm failures. Wheel hub bearing failures that let the tandem wheels, hub, brake drum, and 3-4 feet of axle shaft walk away from the truck and keep rolling on its merry way. The list goes on and on. By and large its a pretty safe industry, accidents happen but the sheer number of miles these guys drive stuffs gonna happen. Yah I definitely steer as clear as possible from large trucks when I'm riding. But I'm sure statistically the guy who poses the biggest risk to you on the road is not in a semi. Around here it's fart can Honda's, Florida or Arizona I'd bet its a Cadillac or a Buick.