Utah DOT driver Terry Jacobson is miraculously alive after his highway plow truck got checked into oncoming traffic and off a cliff by a semi-truck trying to pass him.
Utah’s ABC 4 is reporting that the semi-truck in this video actually clipped the snow plow truck trying to get around it, causing it to lose control and, well, here’s the result:
ABC 4 reports that Jacobson has been driving snow plows for over 20 years, and operating out of the Spanish Fork area where this happened for the last eight. The vehicles were both said to have been driving at around 50 mph, and the plow truck apparently weighed “close to 70,000 pounds.” I’m not sure what model it is, looks like an International from what’s left of the grille.
Disregard the dash cam’s timestamp, which appears to be incorrect. Local news agencies are confirming the incident took place on Thursday at around noon local time. Anyway, I don’t think that song on the radio in the background came out until 2016.
Local news has reported that the semi-truck’s driver was “was cited for multiple violations including improper passing and leaving his lane.”
The moral of the story is simple: don’t mess with plow trucks. Anyone who’s spent a lot of time in snowy driving conditions probably knows the aggravation of being stuck behind a slow-moving maintenance machine, but trying to pass one throws a dangerous variable into a slippery situation. Let these machines do their jobs and winter travel will go more smoothly for all of us.