Pickup Truck Driver Survives After Plunging 70 Feet Off a Wisconsin Overpass
He wasn’t just alive when authorities arrived, but fully conscious, and with no reported signs of intoxication.
Footage of a pickup truck falling 70 feet off a Milwaukee overpass last weekend was recently revealed, leaving viewers in shock that the driver was able to survive the massive drop. The frightening crash was captured the morning of Saturday, Feb. 6 by a camera operated by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, according to WISN.
The camera was pointed at Interstate 94's "Zoo Interchange," named so not for being the busiest highway interchange in the state, but for the Milwaukee County Zoo to its northwest. On the left side of the frame, a truck appears before sending up a large white cloud, suggesting it hit a compacted, sloped snowbank along the edge of the road. This ramped the vehicle up and over the barrier, sending it on a trajectory to land on the onramp of westbound I-94.
The truck appears to land upright, front axle first, whipping the bed to the ground and potentially transferring kinetic energy away from the cab. This may be why Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office deputies reportedly arrived to find the driver conscious and showing no signs of inebriation.
The unnamed driver was reportedly hospitalized, their condition undisclosed. Whether or not they see the footage, they probably know how lucky they were to survive their ordeal, and may come away with a new perspective on life—and how fragile it can be.
Ever-escalating crash safety standards may be worsening cars' visibility, but they also mean that people are surviving collisions that could've been fatal just a few years ago. While carmakers can design for violent rollovers, though, it's much harder to design around unusual accidents, like plunging several stories from a high place.
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