zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
Driver Somehow Survives This 70-Foot Freefall From Milwaukee 'Zoo' Interchange
Driver Somehow Survives This 70-Foot Freefall From Milwaukee 'Zoo' Interchange-July 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:12:27

A very lucky driver survived a 70-foot fall after his pickup truck hit a snowbank on a higher ramp of Milwaukee’s “Zoo” interchange and landed wheel-side up on westbound I-94 below on Saturday. The horrifying crash was captured on surveillance video from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

The WDOT video, featured below in a report, shows the red pickup hit a snowbank built up on the shoulder of the curved ramp, sending it over:

Police arrived on the scene moments later, according to , and reported the driver “conscious and breathing but in a lot of pain.” The crash investigation is ongoing however police told WISN that the driver did not appear to be impaired.

The buildup of snow on the roadside like this is a big problem, Eddie Santiago, Milwaukee County Highway Director told WISN. Santiago said the melting and freezing process of the plowed snow buildup makes a “natural ramp.”

Santiago also said the ice gets to be as “hard as concrete” making it difficult to remove. Crews use front loaders and snow blowers to chip away at the dangerous snow ramps. This is not the first crash to happen under similar circumstances at this interchange in recent years, either. WISN 12 News highlighted another fatal crash involving a red pickup truck that hit a snowbank and rolled over a median four years ago. There was even another crash this past weekend with no serious injuries involving an SUV hitting a similar snowbank and riding up the median wall before stopping.

Obviously, there are a lot of conditions that lead up to crashes like this. Drivers who don’t adjust their speed to meet road conditions and road conditions can change quickly during the day making winter driving particularly dangerous. But with two crashes in one weekend, one nearly fatal, the buildup of snow and ice on the roadside on such interchanges needs far, far more attention than they are currently getting if we’re serious about ensuring driver safety.

Saturday’s pickup crash looks to me like it could have been a 10th-generation Ford F-150, though it was not clear from news reports what vehicle was actually involved. But if it was, good for Ford, and lucky for the driver.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
McLaren's New Hybrid Supercar Gets A Totally New Name Just So You Know It's A Big Deal
McLaren's New Hybrid Supercar Gets A Totally New Name Just So You Know It's A Big Deal
McLaren’s upcoming hybrid supercar finally has a name: Artura. The company on Monday, and it will be applied to the first vehicle out of Woking using the new and High-Performance Hybrid system. There’s kind of a lot riding on the Artura. Every McLaren product since the MP4-12C in 2011...
Jul 9, 2025
Fiat Chrysler Has Spoken The Forbidden Words
Fiat Chrysler Has Spoken The Forbidden Words
The “merger of equals” has returned, the most terrifying words you can say about Chrysler. Years after the littlest of the Big Three made it out of Daimler’s purgatory, Stellantis has used the same language to describe its merger. All that and more in for November 24, 2020. By...
Jul 9, 2025
Belgian Security Researchers Find A Clunky But Effective Way To Steal A Tesla In Minutes
Belgian Security Researchers Find A Clunky But Effective Way To Steal A Tesla In Minutes
Here’s a warning for owners: if you see a sort of Belgian-looking person (I assume that means ?) walking around you and car, holding a box full of electronics and wires, maybe play it safe and smack the box out of their hands, then stomp on it. , a...
Jul 9, 2025
The Volkswagen Passat Leaves The United States In 2023
The Volkswagen Passat Leaves The United States In 2023
The Passat nameplate Through the years, buyers have had such wonderful choices as wagons, diesel models and even the unconventional W8 engine. Now, the crossover and SUV world domination has taken another victim: Volkswagen . As reported by , Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will shift from producing the...
Jul 9, 2025
GM Agrees To Colossal Takata Airbag Recall
GM Agrees To Colossal Takata Airbag Recall
GM said today it . Also today: GM said it would comply with a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration decision forcing GM to recall 5.9 million SUVs and trucks with Takata airbags in the U.S., costing GM an estimated $1.2 billion. Were these events related? Probably not, but the...
Jul 9, 2025
QOTD: Do You Use Winter Tires?
QOTD: Do You Use Winter Tires?
We’ve been accused of being overly obsessed with on this site. We just want you to be safe, how dare we? (Imagine me saying this with as much motherly Catholic guilt as possible.) I will admit with a dash of shame, however, that last year we had such a...
Jul 9, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved