Ice ‘missile' flies off car's roof, shattering quick-thinking driver's windshield

Miami Herald

21-02-2025

A Pennsylvania electrician narrowly avoided disaster on the highway when a chunk of ice rocketed off of a tractor-trailer and smashed through his windshield.
Josh Keating was in his work van, driving on the interstate toward Allentown, when glass and ice suddenly exploded all around him, WFMZ reported.
'It could have knocked me out. It could have killed me,' Keating told the TV station.
Keating was able to pull over, but he was in shock. EMS personnel who treated him afterward said his blood pressure was 168 over 90, according to WFMZ.
'I had an angel with me,' Keating told WNEP. 'The only thing I got was cuts and bruises basically on my hands because when it came through, I put my hand up to kind of catch the glass.'
Under Pennsylvania law, drivers are required to clear ice and snow off their vehicles within 24 hours or face a $50 fine. If they don't and snow or ice injures or kills someone by flying off a moving car, the driver can face a fine of up to $1,500.
'It's a major safety concern when you aren't clearing your car, especially when you have some of the ice on top of snow,' Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesperson Sean Brown told WFMZ. 'They really become like missiles off your car.'
Keating said he's become outspoken about the road hazard.
'Something that I'm gonna be doing from now on is educating and just talking about this to as many people as possible,' Keating told WNEP. 'Hopefully they get this to stop because this happens more often than not.'
In a WNEP interview, Keating's mother Gloria Nace said he called her after the incident.
'I could tell as soon as I heard his voice that something was wrong,' she said.
She said the dashcam footage of the incident made her feel as though her heart had stopped.
In dashcam footage posted by ABC7 and widely shared across social media, the ice can be seen crashing through the driver's side of Keating's windshield, obstructing his vision.
'I could have lost him if he hadn't had his guardian angel with him and if he hadn't stayed composed and did exactly what he did, getting his van to the side of the road safely,' Nace told WNEP.
Similar incidents have proven devastating for other drivers. In January, a 24-year-old Pennsylvania man went to the ICU after a sheet of ice from a truck smashed his windshield and crushed his face, according to WGAL.
'(The impact) pushed him with such force, his seat completely back, with that much force,' his father Paul Hennel told the station.
He is undergoing multiple facial reconstruction surgeries, according to a GoFundMe page.
Paul Hennel told WGAL that he's urging people to protect themselves and others by clearing snow and ice from their cars.
'You would not want this to happen to your son or daughter, anyone that you love. It's something that could have been avoided.'