Ice Road Truckers' Hugh Rowland Explains What Happens If A Truck Gets Stuck While On The Ice
History's aptly named reality series "Ice Road Truckers” follows the lives of truck drivers whose seasonal routes force them to drive over frozen bodies of water on their trips. These so-called "ice roads" are primarily located in parts of Alaska and Canada and are some of the most dangerous roads in the entire world, simply due to the fact that the drivers risk cracking the ice and falling below the water at any given moment.
As if driving for miles and miles across a sheet of ice wasn't nerve-racking enough, these brave drivers also have to contend with a variety of brutal weather conditions depending on when or where these ice roads are located, including full-blown blizzards that can surround their trucks and completely block off their vision (via YouTube). The work of an ice road trucker is about as harrowing and captivating as it gets and draws comparisons to the life-or-death conditions seen on Discovery's reality show "Deadliest Catch."
Indeed, one of the worst things that can happen to a trucker is getting their truck stuck on the ice –- stranding them in the middle of nowhere with nothing but ice on every side.
Hugh Rowland says that stopping on the ice is a death sentence
During an interview on "Fox Car Report," longtime "Ice Road Truckers" cast member Hugh Rowland (who left the series after suffering severe injuries in a truck crash) gave a pretty blunt explanation of what happens when a truck gets stuck out on the ice. "Say you're allowed 100,000 pounds on the ice. That's moving weight... but when you're sitting you're only allowed 60,000 pounds," Rowland explained. "You can't stop on the ice. They gotta get off or they're gonna, y'know, basically commit suicide."
Rowland's comments make it clear that there is no coming back from getting stuck out on the ice — if a car stops on the ice it is going under, as the ice itself is already cracking while they are driving across. Indeed, Rowland also explained that some newcomers don't actually realize how harrowing the experience will be until they get onto the ice and hear it crack as they are driving, leading some newcomers to simply give up halfway through their route. Rowland said that when this happens they always have to pull off of the lake and back onto land, reiterating that under no circumstances should you ever stop driving while on the ice.
Rowland's blunt explanation makes it clear that stopping or getting your truck stuck while out on the ice is essentially a death sentence –- adding yet another scary variable to a series chocked full of life or death decisions.