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Driver negotiates truck down icy mountain after it jackknifes

FLORISTON, Calif. — A FedEx driver kept his composure when his 18-wheel truck jackknifed at the high point of the snowy mountain pass Thursday near the California-Nevada border, KTLA reported.

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The driver was pulling two trailers when the truck jackknifed on Interstate 80 near Floriston near the Donner Pass, a pass in the Sierra Nevada that rises more than 7,000 feet at its crest.

"He had broke the air lines to his rear trailer. This caused the brakes on the rear trailer to lock up," CHP-Truckee wrote in a Facebook post. "We arrived on scene and were informed the tow was going to be extended. So we asked the driver if he could get himself going and we would give him space to get down to the next open shoulder on the interstate.

"Twenty minutes later he was off the highway and we were open with flowing traffic."

CHP blocked the traffic and escorted the truck as it drifted down the road to the next shoulder area. This location was a safer spot for the truck to wait for a tow, KTLA reported.

"I cannot believe that worked," can be heard over the radio once the truck comes to a stop.

The video posted on Facebook has more than 27 million views and more than 612,000 shares.

"This guy or gal deserves the driver with nerves of steel award for the century!” one poster wrote. “They must either have been a hockey player or a surfer in a previous life! (Or maybe a ranch rodeo pickup rider)."

 
Posted by CHP - Truckee on Thursday, January 12, 2017