Capital Rants

If ice is on your car, you’re breaking the law

Capital Rant isn’t supposed to state the obvious. But, apparently, it must. Folks, clear off the top of your vehicles. Do it now. It’s the law in Pennsylvania. It became a law last summer. No one’s been keeping it a secret.

Our police reporter, Elizabeth Evans, wrote a story on the topic Jan. 2. It was mentioned in a story that appeared on our Web site earlier this week. I’ve heard it mentioned on two television news shows since we were hit by what’s been dubbed the Valentine’s Day storm. Apparently, lots of people still haven’t gotten the message.

One of our reporters lives in Carlisle. When he arrived at work yesterday, I inquired about his commute. He said I-83 was in decent shape. The real hazard involved chunks of ice flying off the top of tractor-trailers. As I drove to work from Hanover this morning, at least one-fourth of the vehicles I passed still had thick sheets of ice clinging to the top. Most of the offenders were driving trucks and SUVs.

Look, one person has already been injured by flying ice. On Wednesday, a sheet of ice came off a tractor-trailer and sliced through the windshield of a Dodge Durango on a road in North Codorus Township. The impact sent shards of glass flying into the face of a female passenger.

The traveling ice chunks I passed this morning weren’t going anywhere. Too frozen, I suppose. That’s likely to change as the weather warms this weekend. Then those chunks of ice will become flying projectiles. And if those flying projectiles injure someone, it will cost you. Minimum fine on first offense: $200. Maximum fine: $1,000. One could argue that’s too little if someone is seriously injured.

So clean off the cars, the trucks, the tractor-trailers, the SUVs. It won’t be nearly as difficult as those shoveling those chunks of ice you had to move to get the vehicle on the road in the first place. I promise.

Besides, it’s the law.