At least eight tires have burst in Kärkölä in Päijät-Häme this autumn, and crushed gravel spread on the roads is suspected of causing the damage, Yle reported.
Tires have broken over the past few weeks on Koukuntie, Metsä-Marttilantie and Nikinoja on the Mäntsälä side. All are public state roads. A Facebook group for Kärkölä residents said ten or eleven tires had burst, but Yle called people in that discussion and confirmed eight cases.
Five tires burst on Marja Salminen's family cars on Mommilantie at Nikinoja, all within three weeks of new crushed gravel being spread on the road. Three of the family's four cars were hit. The daughter's car lost two tires, Salminen's own car two and her spouse's car one.
Her spouse patched all the tires himself, and the daughter's car also needed a new rim.
"The daughter's car's rim was bent right out of shape. She didn't realise straight away that the tire was flat and had driven the car a longer distance," Salminen said. The family first suspected nails, and went over the yard with a metal detector, finding nothing.
When the spouse patched the tires, three contained a piece of sharp crushed gravel. Salminen plans this week to find out how to claim compensation.
By Tuesday, Kaakkois-Suomen elinvoimakeskus had received three complaints suspecting that gravel spread on Koukuntie caused tire damage. The office asked the contractor to check documents. Tuomas Vasama, head of the maintenance unit, said the contractor has so far found nothing in the documentation that would explain the failures.
One option is to take a sample of the gravel for visual inspection. Vasama said drivers who suspect road maintenance negligence can claim compensation from Lapin elinvoimakeskus. The contractor did not comment to Yle.
Sauli Olkkonen of Kärkölä was on a moose hunt with the Mertien Metsästäjät group at the weekend when at least two tires burst. "We were at Koukunmaa and drove Metsä-Marttilantie and Koukuntie. Two cars had a tire break. We saw that gravel had been spread on the road," he said, adding that several tires bursting on the same day had never happened before.
One driver changed a spare on the spot and the other car was towed to Lahti. On Monday, Metsä-Marttilantie already had a new layer of gravel, and a gravel truck was spreading another load.