At some point every year white out conditions occur on the Dalton where you can see barely 20 feet in front of you. Here are some photos from last year. Someone went off the road and laid their truck over on its side. Click on the first one and scroll to the right.
The drive line of this truck broke coming down 5 mile last summer. Just like putting it in neutral, the motor didn’t help slow him down. While trying to stop the truck going downhill the driver smoked his brakes, then coasted up 6 mile hill. His brakes wouldn’t hold him when he coasted to a stop, they were too hot. So then he rolled backwards into the ditch. There’s more than accidents that go on up on the road but most of it isn’t exciting enough to post. 🙂
Click to enlarge.
Jack doesn’t remember much of a back story on this but it happened a few years ago and no one died. It went off the road and rolled over. Yikes! (Click for a larger view.)
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Jack happened upon a motor home that got too close to the edge and got sucked into the soft shoulder on the Taylor Highway a few miles north of Chicken, Alaska. In these photos Jack drives up to the gathering of vehicles with people who are there to get this problem taken care of. The tow truck is there and they have already pulled the motor home so that it is perpendicular to the road so they can get it out. The sad couple stands nearby; even if their insurance is paid up there was undoubtedly a loss of valuables and a sad ending to the trip they’ve planned for months. Sadly, it’s not the first time it has happened and it won’t be the last. (Click on the first image and scroll to the right.)
This truck wrecked on the Parks Highway yesterday. The driver is fine but he was cited for negligent driving. The accident spilled about 2000 gallons of diesel into a ditch. Below is a link to a short article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner about it.
Photo by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities via Newsminer.com
More snow in the engine, but this time it’s from someone going in the ditch! It seems to happen to everyone eventually and it’s better to land in the cushy snow instead of just about anywhere else. After it got pulled out they cleaned the snow off and drove it away!
(Identifying marks have been removed for privacy.)
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