WATCH: Catastrophic Wheel Failure on Hwy 407, Ontario Captured by Mini Cooper REAR Dashcam

Extra points and five stars for having a rear dashcam!! Good thing the highway wasn't busy at the time. We always drive by the odd car with wobbly-looking wheels on the highway and always wondered what would happen if the wheel came off in transit. Now we know...

Sat, Nov 19, 2016. 8:20am On the Westbound 407 ETR in Ontario Canada. Have the family in the Mini Cooper, heading to London, when we come up behind this SUV. 

I notice from way back that the hazards are on, so I expect to see the skinny spare tire on it. As we pull up on the left to pass it, I notice the wheel wobble moments before some bits (lug nuts and bolts) fly off, I fixate on the bits, not sure if he just ran over some rocks or gravel and see them bouncing on the road. I follow the bits with my eyes and one slams into my car (seen in the slow-mo bit at the end) 

My wife is watching the whole thing, as we pass him, the sparks are flying and we could hear the grinding. Then the wheel separates from the truck, and crosses all the lanes and bounces into the centre median. Luckily it stayed in there and rolled along for some time, and did not bounce over the barrier and into oncoming traffic (I followed it in my rear view as long as I could)

Mini Cooper Dashcam

The guy certainly knew something was wrong with his truck, as he had his hazard lights flashing. He took a risk to continue driving in my opinion, as people have been killed in Ontario by fly-away wheels. He is just lucky that no one was hurt by that thing. 

I have ran a dashcam for a number of years now, and just a couple of weeks ago put my motorbike away for the season so thought I would mount it's dashcam in my Mini Cooper as a rear facing cam. Good idea, I am going to get a dedicated rear facing dashcam for my car now, half the crazy crap that happens out there on the road happens behind you.