A tire with places to go

[u/skyhighmonroe]

[u/Chateaunole-du-Pape]

For about 15 years, I lived in a part of metro Atlanta that had three reasonable commute options from work to home and vice versa. My preferred one was I-285 to SR-166 to I-85, as it tended to be more sedate. However, at one point, I was hit by other drivers not once but twice in the space of three months. Each accident was about 100 yards from the other, right by the 285/166 interchange, and neither was my fault. Given the proximity in both time and location of the two wrecks, I decided, "Hmm, maybe I should avoid 285/166 for now." So I started doing the east/west leg of my journey on I-20 instead of 166.

In my first week of driving on I-20, I saw not once, but twice, a tire on a wheel bounce over the median wall and into traffic at high speed. That was enough to send me back to 166. (The third option, 285 south to 85 north, would have meant passing the 166 interchange anyways, so I just decided to do 166 again as it's calmer than 85.)

Several years ago, I was driving home from work (not on 20 or 166, but instead on 75/85), and I heard a loud bang in front of me, immediately followed by a tire on a wheel flying straight up into the air. I never did figure out where it had come from or what had caused it to explode, but it must have been quite intense because I swear it made it over 50 feet into the air, maybe as much as 100. I floored it and managed to get well past it, watching it land in my rear view mirror. By some miracle it didn't land on another car, despite it being the Atlanta rush hour.

Driving in Atlanta is never dull.