So how much bad weather is really bad enough to call off work?
A video posted on Facebook this week revisits that old dilemma and quickly drives home the message that icy roads may not be worth the gamble of going into work.
Though state and city officials in Portland, Oregon warned commuters to stay off the roads Tuesday because of freezing rain, not everyone took the message seriously or perhaps didn’t hear it at all.
One thing’s for certain…the man who recorded Tuesday morning’s truck accident on Interstate 84 near Troutdale got off the highway and headed back home.
“Wrong day to go to work in Portland,” Gene McKinley writes on his Facebook page. “I got off the freeway and went back home.”
McKinley’s video has so far gotten roughly 414,000 views and plenty of comments on whether driving to work in icy conditions like this is really worth the risk. (Please note that some of the posted comments contain offensive language.)
“Most of us should be taking public transportation if we cannot drive in the road,” writes FB user Nicole McCune. “I know I wouldn’t be able to pay my mortage this month if I called off every day it snowed or had ice on the road. And there has been quite a few of them this past month or so.”
Some viewers question whether the box truck is actually sliding across the highway or backing up in reverse.
Not long after the collision, the Oregon Department of Transportation closed a section of I-84, including the scene of Tuesday’s accident, due to icy conditions and increased skidding.
“There’s a lot of skidding going on out there,” ODOT Spokesman Don Hamilton told oregonlive.com.
Wrong day to go to work in Portland! I got off the freeway and went back home.
Posted by Gene McKinley on Tuesday, January 17, 2017
