In August 1998 a 15-year-old girl, Denise Doran, was walking with her family on the Derry to Letterkenny road near Newtowncunningham in Donegal when a truck wheel hit her. The wheel had come off a passing lorry. Her five-year-old brother and eight-year-old sister were also struck by the wheel and ended up in hospital.
There have been other similar incidents of people being struck with wheels coming off moving trucks. In July 2000, Paddy Donnelly (26) was putting out signs to warn of upcoming road-works when he was struck by one of two wheels that detached from a passing truck.
The problem with flying wheels comes down to an engineering issue over the correct tension on the wheel studs. It is the torque in these studs that keep the heavy wheels safely in place. The great difficulty is getting the right tension when tightening the nut on the wheel. Unfortunately, applying the right torque to each nut does not guarantee the right tension.
Thankfully a new product being developed by a Cork firm, Levitat, may solve the problem. The Wheelcrown is a cam mechanism to tension the stud to the correct level and is permanently attached to the wheel. Levitat claims it is faster, simpler and safer than the current method of using a torque-wrench. If it avoids accidents - like those above - it is a very welcome development.