Tales from the open, err… closed, road

If Americans were better at improv, state troopers might write fewer tickets.

Alas, we’re not. The Minnesota State Patrol Facebook page carries this tale today.


Recently, an MSP Sergeant found this semi truck driving thru a closed construction zone on Hwy 212 and Hwy 75 in Lac Qui Parle County. The driver drove around numerous barricades, and after nearly making it all the way through the zone, he met up with a trooper. The driver, who was heading back home to Mississippi, said he didn’t know the road was closed. He was cited for driving around a barricade. Great work!!

Mississippi, you say?

  • John O.

    The sign did not say “Road Closed Y’all.”

  • Bob Collins

    The “I don’t know how to read” defense might’ve worked, assuming the state trooper does.

  • jon

    if he managed to drive across the closed road almost the entire way (guessing maybe the entire way to actually get out after the trooper caught him) then why was the road closed in the first place?

    I have driven on closed roads (closed due to snow) I did not “go around the barricades” in a technical sense… in one instance I was on the road when it closed, and in another I saw the gate down, too a right, then a left, then a right, and a left, and then back on to the road that was closed via an entrance that didn’t have a barricade…

    The first instance, I regretted being on the road, I couldn’t see clearly where I was going on a regular basis, I was driving in large part by feel, (if I’m on the bump strip on the side of the road, I’m clearly at least on the road.) the second instance where I navigated around a barrier the road was clear, there were no cars in the ditch, and it was generally better driving then some of the other open roads we came across on that trip…

    I’m just saying road closings are often unnecessary, and I can see where some one might completely miss that a road is actually closed if they didn’t pay attention to the barricades.

    Also, food for thought, I-80 across Nebraska (last I was there) is under construction (has been for years) for half of the state. Except, there is no construction being done… no construction crews, just a sign every now and then saying that the speed limit is 50 or 45 instead of 70 or 75… my understanding from the locals is that it’s been this way for quiet some time, and the company doing the construction lacks the tools to finish the job, and the company in NE that has the right tools, won’t rent them out (partly because they lost the bid to do that work in the first place.) so the half of the state essentially becomes a speed trap for no good reason… Laws are here to protect people, but are often used only to punish them and generate revenue… it’s a sad state of affairs.