'Truck Sledding' Videos Went Viral During the Winter Storm. Then a 16-Year-Old Died. [View all]

On makeshift “sleds” — a mattress, a folding chair, an upside-down table, a canoe — people shriek and laugh as they careen around corners and pick up speed, propelled by the moving vehicles in front of them. Videos of teens and young adults, giddy at the rare snowfall and ice-covered roads, were all over Instagram and TikTok feeds this weekend as Texans took part in a dangerous sledding trend that has left one dead already.

The winter storm that swept across the U.S. over the last few days claimed at least 13 lives as of Monday morning, according to USA Today. While many of those deaths are attributed to hypothermic conditions and exposure to freezing temperatures, others have stemmed from the icy roads, which can be incredibly dangerous for vehicles to navigate. A 20-car pileup on I-10 near San Antonio left one person dead on Saturday night, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Then there were the sledding accidents.

On Sunday, two 16-year-old girls in Frisco were sledding behind a Jeep when their sled hit a curb and the girls crashed into a tree, according to WFAA. Police responded after the crash and found both 16-year-old girls with “life-threatening injuries,” according to a press release from the Frisco government office.

https://thebarbedwire.com/2026/01/26/truck-sledding-winter-storm-dead/