Pennsylvania State Police was notified of at least 3 vehicles struck by rocks thrown from an overpass on Interstate 78 this past weekend.
In the area of Exit 23 in east I-78, at Mountain Road at 3 a.m. Saturday, a tractor-trailer was traveling on the highway when a rock and other unknown objects were thrown at the truck.
According to WFMZ, “about the same time Sunday morning, rocks thrown from the Power Drive overpass struck two vehicles on I-78 in Upper Tulpehocken Township.”
The rocks being thrown were large enough for one of the vehicles to sustain damage to the undercarriage.
Rocks thrown at vehicles on I-78 from the Power Drive overpass, state police investigating https://t.co/FWMirv67JC
— Lebanon Daily News (@LDNews) September 18, 2017
The windshield of the tractor-trailer, as well as the other 2 cars, were damaged.
There were no bodily injuries reported.
Unfortunately, this sort of accident does happen quite often.
Pennslyvania State Trooper, David Beohm commented saying, “There have been incidents where people have been killed by stuff thrown off of overpasses.”
Overpass Fencing Bill
There is currently legislation that State Senator Gene Yaw hopes will pass this fall to force changes in response to am accident in which a woman was seriously injured by a rock thrown from a highway overpass.
If this bill were to go into effect, it would require that the state Department of Transportation would be required to add protective fencing to overpasses across interstates.
This sort of fencing would be designed so that people would not be able to throw things off of them into traffic.
Budget concerns are obviously an issue; however, once budget constraints are sorted, Yaw believes the bill will get the attention from legislation that it deserves.
The estimated cost for fencing in Pennsylvania is $200 million.
According to Meadville Tribune, “The legislation was inspired by the July 2014 incident in Union County in which Sharon Budd, an Ohio school teacher, suffered serious head injuries after struck by a rock thrown from the bridge carrying Gray Hill Road over Interstate 80.”
Since that accident, 18 bridges were fenced in, costing $389,450. There is also an additional pending contract that would add an additional $435,000 worth of fencing to Interstate 95.
If this bill passes in the state Senate, the House will have to approve it before it is seen by the eyes of the governor.