Solution for damage from flat tires - thoughts?

In my trucking days a blowout could rip off rear fenders installed over the drive tires. It did not seem to matter how heavy they were it would still bend them. Weight is a factor so how heavy can you go??
I agree the industry could have engineered something a whole bunch better from the start. They also could have routed wiring and plumbing differently to avoid expensive damage to occur to those components.