Drivers in Virginia bared witness to such a bizarre sight that as one onlooker remarked, “We must be in the Twilight Zone.” A large semi-truck convoy, comprised of more than 120 vehicles had a police escort as they made their way down Interstate 95.
Numerous onlookers took videos of the trucks, which were then posted to the Internet and sparked many conspiracy theories.
LiveLeak picked up one such video, dubbing the footage as “a very strange convoy of trucks.” The woman shooting the video could be heard saying, “On the interstate, numerous state troopers, followed by a line — everything is blocked off — followed by a line of duplicate Conway freight trains.” The woman also noted that other drivers were filming the event as well.
Officially, there was a perfectly charitable explanation for the barrage of semi-trucks flying down Interstate 95. According to the Virginia State Police, the truckers were participating in the “World’s Largest Truck Convoy,” a charity event that donates all funds to the Special Olympics.
A closer examination of event, however, aroused skepticism among many internet observers and commentators. In particular, calculations of the cost of fuel, labor, and work hours lost nearly may not be worth nearly as much as the only $20,000 that was raised. Reddit user Camblor rightly points out:
110 trucks to raise $20,000? That seems ridiculous. The value of the trucks alone would be around (110 x $130k) $14.3 million, and thats before the cost of fuel, maintenance, insurance, drivers, police escorts, the strain on traffic… There’s got to be a better way to raise the coin.
Edit: I’m not suggesting they bought the trucks for this purpose, but that equipment is worth $14.3 million in capital because it can do a certain amount of work resulting in cashflow/dividends. There’s a huge opportunity cost in tying up that equipment. Same goes for the tied-up public infrastructure, police, and other resources. Plus all the other stuff. It’s insane.
Most alternative theories center around the Special Olympics story being used as cover for the the transportation of secret military weapons, Ebola response equipment, or supplies for a secret post apocalyptic bunker. Even if the fundraising story is true, Reddit user ThatBeardedCarGuy believes that the US government was still watching the event closely:
Some food for thought. The Interstate System was designed to transport troops and military supplies across the large distances of the continent in relatively short time. Ike saw Germany’s defense network during his time in Europe during WWII and championed the cause back home.
We began this project in 1956, but only very recently has the original plan been completed. Figure with all the war rhetoric and tensions between countries, there is bound to be a test of our network at some point.
I’ll be interested to see if anything comes of it through official channels. Doubtful, but this convoy was a test of some sort. Charity event or otherwise, powerful people were watching this with an eye on how it could be implemented if all hell broke loose. It would be a waste not to.
[via Reddit]