Truck Driver Pulled Over After Driving Over 62 Miles With A Tire Missing

What do you call semi-trucks where you're from? Do you call them semis, tractor-trailers, or big rigs? Maybe you call them 18-wheelers, and maybe you should — it's helpful to keep the proper number of wheels in mind, because it seems the powers that be take that sort of thing seriously. Case in point: This trucker in Ontario, who was pulled over for driving on a mere 17 wheels. 

Ontario Provincial Police, the Canadian version of staties, posted a photo of the truck on Facebook on February 14th. The post claimed the truck had driven over 62 miles with one tire missing, and the wheel certainly looks the part — it's worn down around the rim, with some chunks even completely missing. It's a bit of a wonder the trucker didn't notice, though it's possible he was simply on a deadline and decided to try and get through a job and fix the trailer later. The rearmost tire looks scarily slick, too.

Later, though, didn't come. According to CTV News, both the driver and the shipping company were charged — the former for operating his truck unsafely, the latter for allowing it to happen. The truck, according to CTV, was "taken out of service." Maybe it'll get a new tire and wheel package in impound, but if your Amazon package is aboard that trailer, you're likely still in for a bit of a delay. 

Obviously, the driver here should have noticed something was wrong and pulled over to rectify it — if pulling over was an option, at least, because there doesn't seem to be much of a shoulder in the image. Still, it's good that Canadian authorities recognized the shipping company's culpability as well. So often, workers are forced to use unsafe machinery in order to meet unrealistic quotas set by higher-ups. Maybe 17 wheels wasn't the driver's choice.