Proper way to tell someone they have a flat tire?

Driving down the interstate today about 75 mph and get passed by a white Subaru outback with a 40 something female behind the wheel and a young girl in the passenger seat. As they blow by me, I notice the right rear tire is flat as a pancake. Not just low. I’m talking rim cutting through the sidewall flat. Figuring that driving 80 on a flat is possibly a bad idea, I decide to be a good person like my mother raised me to be and let her know, thinking I would even stop and help her change it. Get up along side her (82 mph), get her attention and start trying to yell to her that she has a flat tire. She looks scared and slows down. I move past her and over to the right lane waiting for her to pull over. NOPE. She stomps on it and goes around me. Figure I’ll give it one more shot. Catch up, yell again through the open window, “Your rear tire is flat”. She proceeds to start flipping me off and yelling something. My expert lip reading skills thought it looked like “truck blue”, but I doubt that was it since my truck is red. Then she hammers on it and takes off. I figured two attempts were enough and let her go.

I can only assume that it was one of two things. Either big guys with shaved heads driving pickups are scary and need to be avoided, or “Your rear tire is flat” is easily mistaken for “Your rear is fat”.

Either way, I was unsuccessful and gave up. I’m thinking I need to make a sign that says “You have a flat tire” in big black ink I can hold up as I seem to see people driving on a flat tire on a regular basis.

“Truck Blue”

Some people just deserve what they get…

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“Truck Blue”

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+1 Good one…

I can only assume that it was one of two things. Either big guys with shaved heads driving pickups are scary and need to be avoided, or “Your rear tire is flat” is easily mistaken for “Your rear is fat”.

Could have been either I guess. I always just point towards the ground, yelling at 80 mph doesn’t seem to work well. Last time I pulled somebody over the bearings on their boat trailer were smoking. Pulled along side and pointed down and back towards the trailer. Then I dropped back, they pulled over and then I told them what I saw. I will say it was a guy with his wife and kids so I don’t think he felt threatened.

Sometimes being a good guy works, sometimes it doesn’t. But you ALWAYS feel good for at least trying.

I remember once pulling up next to a car that seemed to have a very low passenger-side rear tire. As I yelled “Your tire is almost flat” at the red light,I realized it wasn’t: The front and back RH side seats were occupied by very,very,very large women.

Oops.

I was always wondering how you WI guys found your victims.

Nice try John and I think two is enough. In today’s age, they could have thought as you as a threat…know what I mean?

You tried, what more can you do, call 911 and let them know a possible accident is coming

Although you didn’t say, can we assume she was a BLONDE?

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You tried, what more can you do, call 911 and let them know a possible accident is coming

Although you didn’t say, can we assume she was a BLONDE?

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Actually, yes she was.

I was always told, a rim is cheaper/funner than being run over on the interstate shoulder…

How do you not know you have a flat tire, especially while going 80 mph?

You can’t fix stupid, I guess.

And she was probably calling 911 on John.
Wait for it……..

I’ve been told my passenger brake light is out. I can’t tell you how many times. I gets annoying after a while. Then again, it’s been out for about 6 months so…

That made my day John!

Blonde ?

You should have put it on Facebook im guessing she would have read it on someones page shortly after you posted it.

She may notice that it’s flat when she runs out of rim in the next couple of days or so.

In the meantime she’s probably bragged to everyone that she knows about how she escaped an attacker…

You have to feel sorry for whoever was or is married to her. I hope for his sake that it’s “was” and that he can tell her “truck blue” when she wants him to fix her tire.

Dan

Quite a while back I inquired with a State Trooper on what to do. #1 DO NOT CALL 911 – that is a “non-emergency” and should not be called into a 911 dispatcher. #2. Use caution/discretion when trying to flag down a female driver (given that your a male). They could easily take that as your some freak and call 911 – turning you in for harassment or road rage.
His most solid advise was if you have a passenger, have the passenger try to communicate the issue and move on. If you pursue it too much, it could easily provoke an accident. He admitted that it sounded cold and heartless, but consider the consequences.
To a certain extent, I agree with him. Over the last 29 years of driving, I’ve seen a lot. Guys dragging a lower unit, safety chains dragging, trailers with flats, a camper on fire, fishing rods dragging on the road behind a boat, and even a kid riding in a trailered boat on the highway….amazing how some people accept help and others immediately suspect the worst.

I WOULD call this an emergency. You would be amazed at why some people call 911. A vehicle traveling 80 mph on a flat tire/rim is a good reason to dial it. It’s not a bad idea to have the contact info for the various State Patrol offices in your cell phone.
DT

I was in need of aid once after rolling my car over and having it land upside down in some person’s yard. They would not open the door and called the cops cause they were sure I was there to rape them. The cop laughed at how committed I was to rape this chick (ugly chick by the way) that I would roll a car over just to get into her house (among other things).

Another occasion I knocked on a locals door so I could ask to use their phone. Some elderly couple (clearly scared to death) did actually hand me the phone through a cracked door.

It must be hell living every day scared of the world.

drugs are bad

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drugs are bad

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mmmmmkay?

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Quite a while back I inquired with a State Trooper on what to do. #1 DO NOT CALL 911 – that is a “non-emergency” and should not be called into a 911 dispatcher.

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The local Police, Sheriff and the State Patrol in Minnesota I’ve met tell you when calling 911, tell them right away if this is not an Emergency and then if they are not busy they will handle your call or if busy tell you they are in an Emergency situation and call back or put you on hold.

I’ve called and reported people with NO trailer or tail lights late at night, Distracted/possibly impaired drivers/weaving, going extremely slow on Freeways (under 30), people with no headlights, etc. I’ve always been thanked by the 911 dispatchers for my calls and stayed on until law enforcement arrived or the person figured they did not have their light on.

I even called one time to report a dead, Yes DEAD Holstein Cow laying in the middle of the right lane of E.B. I-94 just south of St. Cloud. The dispatcher repeated what I said and I said “Yes, a Dead Holstein, you better dispatch a Mn/DOT Plow to move it off the road”. This had happened in April right at Sunset, was getting dark.

The following week you could still see the huge blood stain on the pavement.

My niece and two buddies hit a dead horse on the road in Idaho and flipped the truck. Same kind of deal right at dusk. All sober and wearing seatbelts but all banged and bruised. One of those lucky days.
Two bad we can’t have a screen in the back window we could display msgs on for another driver. Seems like new vehicles have every other gadget.

Don’t drink and post…

I’d say it is an emergency too. How long can you ride a rim at 80MPH before it snaps off. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point she was put in a dangerous position and others as well.

no question in my mind that it qualifies for a 911. I’ve been in the situation a couple of times back in the day, but we used flags to signal them. worked!! iowa ’82ish pheasant hunting in january. I35. woman was happy. those were the days…

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Too bad we can’t have a screen in the back window we could display msgs on for another driver. Seems like new vehicles have every other gadget.

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Of course this device would need to have a filtering/censoring system built in; much like these message boards have.
Otherwise, can you imagine how many vehicles would be flashing the “TRUCK BLUE” message ?

I honestly can’t blame her for not stopping. If she’s a woman with her child in the car she did what she felt best about. I’m sure she had no idea what you were saying. If someone is trying to pull you over now days you have to use extreme caution. Too much nastiness in the world. Though you were doing the right thing she had no idea of that.

I guess the one thing I don’t get is how she couldn’t feel the tire being that low on her car.

Maybe it was the same person who did the Dukes of Hazzard jump over the section of buckled road last week. Too bad you couldn’t text her that she had a flat- she would have responded then!