Hey, Mainers: It's Time To Stop Taking Your Truck Out On The Ice

Right now, it's 4:48am. At my house it's already 34 degrees, after a high yesterday of 60-something. We went to visit friends in Belfast to hang out on their farm and run our dog, and as we were driving past Swan Lake, in the same field of vision, I saw a dude in shorts and a t-shirt out on the ice, and an ice shack with flags set.

That's quite a lot to take in all at once. A bit further down the road, and there was an entire family sitting in lawn chairs out on the ice, having some afternoon beverages. Don't get me wrong, I support all these activities, but as I saw in horror on the last bend, was a truck out on the ice. In 60+ degree weather.

I get the idea of feeling tough or defiant, but driving your truck out on the ice in this weather, seems more like playing with fire than ice. So when should you stop going out on the ice? Well, for instance, to hold that truck up, you need at least 12-15 inches of ice. Considering how brittle and grainy it was on the edges, 12-15 seems like a stretch.

Image via National Weather Service Facebook page

To support ice fishing, or any kind of basic lawn chair drinking activities like I saw, you should have at least 4 inches of ice. That seemed reasonable for this time of year. but a truck? Come on..... First responders have enough to do without having to pull you and your truck out of the lake.

In fact, I don't even know what the protocol is for getting a vehicle out. If a regular pickup goes through, that doesn't leave much hope for a tow truck. Nothing about it seems like a solid plan...no pun intended. And that's why the proper authorities constantly remind us about ice conditions.

You can't make people do/not do things, and I never would try. I just feel bad for the people that have to take care of these messes. Keep that in mind next time you're trying to decide whether it's safe to do something. Just remember all the poor folks who will have to bail you out. They're the ones actually being tough and brave. Not the driver of the truck that sunk. Just sayin'.....

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Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

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