I was driving south on i5 around 4am today near Lodi (by that truck stop off-ramp). I was cruising along and noticed lots of pieces of tire on the road, followed by the smell of fresh rubber. I scanned ahead and didn’t see any trucks on the side. So I thought for a hot second if the smell was my truck and maybe I also ran something over. That’s when I noticed Mr UPS.
I eventually caught up to a UPS truck about 2 mins after the tire smell. He was pulling a single pup with a dolly on the rear. As I got closer I noticed sparks from the rear passenger tire of said dolly. I got on the radio and no response. Flashed my headlights a few times. Nothing. Pulled up next to him and honked my city horn. Again no response. After a few more honks and then the highway horn. I got his attention. His reaction. Speeding up ????. I catch up again and motion with my hand pointing to the back and a rolling effect. He kept driving so i go in front of him and put my 4 ways on and decreased speed after a few seconds.
Finally after 2-3 mins of trying to get his attention. He pulled off the freeway, thankfully there was a off-ramp there. Sadly i passed the exit and there wasn’t one closer for me to double back. Hopefully he caught the rim on the pavement.
Question. What I did was fine or is there some other way to get a driver to pull over and check?
