If you’re bored and stuck in traffic, chances are you’ve probably looked around at the vehicles around you, looking for something, anything to ease the pain. As you play Miley Cyrus’ Party In The USA while you inch forward, you’ve probably spotted something off to the side on a slow-moving truck. The wheels on its trailer have little strips slowly rotating, drawing your attention in. What are those for?

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Sometimes, truckers may find that the spring brakes on a wheel may be frozen and not releasing, leading to the wheel dragging. You can get stuck wheels from worn out braking components, rust, bad valves or a number of different possibilities.

One way to check wheel rotation is to paint a mark on a wheel, then drive the truck, turning enough so that you can see the mark in your mirrors. Another way would be to have a spotter check to see if all wheels are moving. Or you could attach wheel rotation indicators to your wheels’ lug nuts and easily be able to check which wheels are in motion.

Image for article titled Here Is What Those Strips Hanging Off Of Truck Wheels Are For Photo: Tyre Protector of North America They work better than a strip of paint because they stick out just far enough that a trucker should be able to see them in their mirrors.

A brilliant product - just surprised it took so long to come up with such a simple solution. Won’t make my compute any better but this files under useless information cabinet - for when I end up on Jeopardy.