Like most people, I always swerve around broken glass when driving. But a coworker claims that “driving over broken glass will not give you a flat.” And come to think of it, I’ve never had a flat caused by glass; it has always been due to a nail.
So can I just drive right over broken glass without any risk of getting a flat?
It depends on which kind of glass: cars’ security glass will probably not cause any flats, but a broken beer bottle could, if the pieces are big enough.
It depends greatly on what type of glass it is and how it is laying in the roadway. Safety glass, like from an automobile window, is designed to break up into small cubes and not create sharp shards. These will not generally be a problem if you run over them.
On the other hand, plate glass, glass bottles, and other types of glass likely to be encountered on the road do not have such design restraints and very often break up into sharp pointy shards which can, and indeed often do, flatten tires. I once owned a tire repair shop and have personally repaired many tires that were punctured by glass.
My advice would be to try to avoid running over any foreign object you see lying in the road. If it is unavoidable, say a little prayer and hope for the best.