With more than 150 million crossings since the bridge opened in November 1957, only two vehicles have ever plunged from the bridge to the Straits of Mackinac below.

The first incident happened on Sept. 22, 1989, as Leslie Ann Pluhar, 31, died when the 1987 Yugo sub-compact car she was driving went over the railing. Media reports from the time show there was some debate over what cause the crash. In some reports, witnesses recounted the strong winds that day actually blew the car off the bridge. Other accounts had the car first hitting the median then then traveling back across the lanes and over the guard rail. A police report issued around the time of the crash estimated that the Yugo was traveling as fast as 63 mph and that while the wind could have been a contributing factor, it did not lift the vehicle over the railing.

Litzner said the winds were around 35 mph at the time of that incident.