DRIVERS SLIP AND
SLIDE ON ICE WEDNESDAY MORNING ALONG THE SOUTH UNITED STATES WHERE ROADS ARE
NOT WELL TREATED. NORTH CAROLINA DRIVERS
GOT HAMMERED. WELL OVER 50 COLLISIONS IN
WAKE COUNTY ALONE
Raleigh, N.C.
— Slick road surfaces, dampened by days of light rain and chilled by overnight
temperatures that dipped past the freezing mark, caused problems Wednesday
morning for drivers.
Gordon said troopers responded to more than 50 collision
reports in Wake County along between about 4:30 and 10 a.m.
The worst of the issues came on elevated highways and
bridges, Gordon said. In areas outside Wake County, less traffic led to a
greater likelihood of ice glazing on roads and slip-and-slide crashes.
"98 percent have been property-damage wrecks rather
than personal-injury wrecks, which is a good thing," Gordon said.
"I think the message got out early after people
started getting out on the highways to either a) delay their travel or b) slow
their speed."
Travel problems widespread Wednesday morning
Lanes closed in south Raleigh
Traffic in south Raleigh slowed when a Wake County
Public School System fuel truck overturned on Interstate 40 at Gorman Street at
about 7 a.m., resulting in the closure of westbound lanes there.
Police were on the scene to detour traffic off I-40,
onto Gorman Street and back to the highway until about 10:30 a.m.
Even public servants slide on ice
A number of cars, including a sheriff's deputy's
vehicle, slid off Interstate
540 near the Creedmoor Road exit in north Raleigh.
The Department of Transportation reported responding to
an accident involving more than a dozen cars in Person County.
In Orange County, firefighters en route to an accident
call slid on ice near the intersection of Phelps and Mason Keyon
roads and their firetruck ended up on its side on the shoulder. No one was hurt
in that incident.
In Nash County, U.S. Highway 64 westbound was closed
before dawn where a
tractor-trailer slid off the road into the vehicles of a sheriff's deputy
and another driver on the shoulder.
Trooper Justine Roy said the driver of an SUV ran off
the road first near the interchange with Interstate 95. The deputy stopped to
help that driver, and both were parked when the truck hit their vehicles.
Accidents get off to an early start
In Chatham County, two accidents on the U.S. Highway 64
bridge over Jordan Lake closed lanes there before 6 a.m., and traffic through
the area remained backed up past 10 a.m.
A pickup truck headed east spun out on ice, and a
tractor-trailer slid into the truck, sending both into the median.
In the second incident, a tractor-trailer slid
through the guardrail and overturned on the bank of the lake.
Neither resulted in serious injuries, emergency
personnel on the scene said.
Dispatchers in both Chatham and Person counties reported
dozens of accident calls.