HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — A proposed law could close one of the remaining gaps in existing Pennsylvania laws that — although some of the only of their kind in America — haven’t stopped sheets of ice from falling from truck rooftops.
Brandon Hennel, 24, of York County, nearly died in early January when a sheet of ice slipped off a tractor-trailer’s roof, crossed into oncoming lanes and went through his windshield. He was on a ventilator for four days, underwent an eight-hour facial reconstruction surgery and — just this week — had wires removed from his jaw.
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His father, Paul Hennel, called an existing Pennsylvania law — sponsored by Lisa Boscola (D-Lehigh Valley) and known as Christine’s Law, in memory of a woman from Boscola’s district when a sheet of ice went through the windshield of a car her husband was driving — a “good first step,” and one of dozen of its kind in America, while also observing the obvious: that it wasn’t enough to prevent what has continued to happen to people like his son.
Initially, the law fined drivers only if ice from their vehicles killed or maimed someone. Then the fines increased, and police got the ability to pull over vehicles with snow or ice on their rooftops that appeared to be a threat; the fine is $50…