Pocono News Section

Flying ice crackdown

Flying ice crackdown - Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 5:13PM EST

Thursday, Dec 20, 2007 @05:13pm EST

Driving on the highway, these winter months, you've probably seen it: ice and snow flying off cars and trucks.

It can lead to accidents and heavy fines.

Pennsylvania state law says you have to clean your car off, or you can be cited.

But how many people are getting busted for not doing that?

Snow and ice could be seen on tops of trucks and cars today on interstate 81 in Jenkins Township.

If it flies off, it can lead to smashed windows, or worse.

Diamond auto glass in Kingston has seen it's fair share of angry customers.

Shelly Ulitchney of Diamond auto glass says, "they're extremely upset. They have to turn it into insurance being that a lot of the time they couldn't get the lisence plate of the vehicle in front of them because they were worried about getting in an accident."

This shop says it normally fixes 10 to 15 car windows a day.

But flying ice and snow accidents have tripled that amount since the white stuff started falling.

Fixing ice damage isn't cheap.

Repairing a windshield can cost anywhere from 200 to 300 dollars.

State law requires drivers to clean their car of snow, or face citations.

But as you can see, some people aren't getting the message.

Last week, in Luzerne County alone, state police say flying ice caused 6 accidents.

3 drivers recieved tickets for not following the state law.

Pennsylvania state police trooper Tom Kelly says, "it could cause serious injury if someone panics, swerves, and flips their vehicle over."

Troopers want drivers take time to make snowy driving safer.

"we're really trying to encourage people to take an extra two minutes and get that ice off your vehicle."

Fines for not cleaning snow and ice off your car range from 25 to 75 dollars.

If you don't clean it, and it flies onto another car causing injury, fines could reach 1 thousand dollars.