Have you changed tires in a busy road?

[marvinmacs]

When I learned how to drive, I dreaded changing tires on the road. But everyone had to go through it.

For some reason today I celebrate the fact that nothing happened to me while changing tires in an expressway a few years ago. The left rear tire blew and I carefully parked the car on the shoulder of the expressway. While changing tires, buses and trucks were speeding behind my back. I didn't think of it as scary that time. But the thought of it has crossed my mind today. I am thankful that no drowsy driver swerved to the shoulder that moment.

[Klicky]

While I don't mind changing passenger-side tires, I always call AAA for driver's side tires.  A flat tire is just not worth the risk of being hit by a careless driver.  It's a wonder more people aren't killed that way.  Watching those police video programs you can see how often cop cars with flashing lights are sideswiped.  It is that much scarier to be beside a disabled vehicle on a busy road without protection.

[Perfect7]

We have always been fortunate enough to find an area well off the road for changing a tire - either one of those "turnaround" areas, or a parking lot, or the like. I'm glad, since we don't have AAA (it isn't worth having where I live).

[Burton]

Fortunately I've never had to change a tire on the road, but I know that it can be deadly at times.

My wife used to work for someone who was the driver of a car that struck someone working on their car on a busy freeway. That was very tragic.

I also make a point of getting over off the road as much as I can whether I'm stopped for police or anything else.

[marvinmacs]

Thanks for sharing guys. The reason why this thing came to my mind was that I had another flat tire on a busy highway. This time I was using a company pick up. I didn't know how to open the lock to remove the spare tire.

So all I could do was wait for the highway police to help me out and for the tow truck to come and haul me out. The time I spent in the middle of the highway in that episode made me reflect a lot. I noticed that the cars simply went whizzing past me. They could be absolutely deadly when you get on one's way. When we're the one driving sometimes we forget this.

It really pays to have presence of mind on the highway, whether you're the one driving or the one getting stuck in the middle. Most things are simply not worth taking the risk no matter how brave and cool we think we are.