TORONTO — Tragedy struck this morning when a woman was killed by a tire that came off a tractor-trailer and struck her car.

The woman was driving north-bound towards Toronto on the QEW, north of North Shore Boulevard, when her vehicle was hit by a tire that flew off a southbound truck and bounced over the centre median.

Details are still coming in, and police don’t know if the tractor-trailer that lost the tire is aware of the incident because the truck didn’t stop. Anyone with information is asked to call 905-681-2511

While wheel off incidents have dropped over the last few years, don’t be surprised this holiday season if friends and family quiz you regarding wheel-offs.

Industry Reaction

"It doesn’t matter to us at this point whether the wheel in question came off of a truck or not," said David Bradley, president of the Candian Trucking Alliance in a press release. "This is a tragedy which should not be inflicted upon any family so we’re asking all truckers, indeed the operators of all commercial vehicles, to review their wheel installation and maintenance practices and policies to try to prevent further occurrences."

Bradley was at the helm of the trucking association a decade and a half ago when a series of wheel off incidents at that time led to a comprehensive review of truck safety in the province (he co-chaired Target ’97 the Government-Industry Task Force on Truck Safety) and the introduction of several improvements in Ontario’s truck safety regulations now considered the toughest in North America.

Specific to wheel installation, an absolute liability fine of up to $50,000 was introduced and an OTA-developed wheel installers training program was approved by the Ontario Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities and made mandatory.

Information provided by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation shows a sharp reduction in wheel separation incidents from 215 in 1997 to 47 last year and 48 so far this year. Seven fatalities have occurred during that period with two occurring in 2011.
 

"These fatalities should not be occurring," says Bradley. "That’s the bottom line."