Despite advances in modern technology, the fundamental issue of wheel detachment continues to be a major concern for the commercial vehicle industry.
When a wheel becomes detached from a moving bus, coach, truck or trailer, it can accelerate to 150 km/h. This has been likened by academics to a bouncing bomb, as the vehicle wheel soars to a height of up to 50 m before dropping and potentially colliding with other road users at an equivalent force of around ten tonnes.
The damage this can cause was evidenced in May when a wheel came off an HGV in Lancashire and collided with an oncoming car…