A 54-year-old Hamilton woman was killed after a tire flew off a passing tractor-trailer and smashed into her vehicle early Thursday morning.
Ontario Provincial Police said the fatal accident happened along the Toronto-bound lanes of the Queen Elizabeth Way near the Burlington Skyway at about 6:45 a.m.
A police spokesperson said the tire flew off a southbound truck, crossing the highway before striking Miroslwa Chmielewski's northbound Honda Civic.
CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney reported that as many as two wheels came loose from the tractor-trailer, with one of them bouncing across the median and smashing into the woman's car.
Chmielewski was alone in the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her distraught husband Marek Chmielewski told CTV News that the loss of his wife makes the Christmas season hard to handle.
"(She) was my best friend," he said. "We were going to spend Christmas time with the family. Now everything has changed."
The couple had two grown sons as well as a daughter in university.
The OPP said the tractor-trailer did not stop at the scene and police are seeking witnesses to the collision in an attempt to track down the driver.
They added that it is possible the driver was not aware of the carnage caused by the lost wheel.
"At that time of the morning…it is dark you would not have been able to see this coming," said OPP Const. Graham Williamson. "There is really no way of protecting yourself from this sort of situation."
Trucks entering the nearby Fort Erie U.S. border crossing are being checked for missing wheels.
While closed for the investigation, police have reopened the ramps from North Shore Boulevard and Eastport Drive to the Toronto-bound QEW.
