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Vehicles slip, slide over second Southern Illinois ice storm

BY TARA FASOL, The Southern

Thursday, February 21, 2008 2:35 PM CST

Southern Illinois residents woke up to find roadways as slick as an ice rink Thursday morning, but law enforcement officials said that still hasn’t prompted some motorist to slow down.

“The weather conditions are getting worse,” said Trooper Dave Sneed, public relations officer for Illinois State Police, District 13, in Du Quoin. “Conditions out here on I-57 are getting treacherous.”

Sneed said he has saw a number of vehicles off the road, minor crashes, single-vehicle accidents, and even cars running out gas since the icy rain started to fall early Thursday morning.

“I’m seeing a lot of motorists traveling too fast for conditions,” he said.

Sneed said drivers need to pace themselves and be cautious of the inclement weather.

“We’re seeing the exact same thing,” said Trooper Mark Zimmerman, public relations officer with ISP, District 19, in Carmi. “Our secondary roads are very slick and hazardous. We’ve had several crashes today, almost all of them weather related.”

Zimmerman said, by 2 p.m., that only one crash resulted in a motorist being injured. He did not have any details on the accident but noted the driver was transported to a nearby hospital.

Perhaps one of the first weather-related crashes was in Franklin County Thursday Morning.

A woman traveling Illinois 14 her way to work was involved in a crash in northern Franklin County.

A spokesman for the West City Police Department said the wreck occurred when a vehicle stopped in front of the woman’s car as she was westbound near Eakin Grove Road on the west side of the city.

After applying her brakes, the woman’s car slid across the roadway, then flipped end to end before landing in a resident’s yard.

The driver did not receive any injuries.

Williamson County dispatchers reported two minor accidents Thursday morning.

Jackson County officials would not comment on any accidents but noted they had not made any releases in that regard, as of 2 p.m.

Carterville, Johnston City and Herrin Police Departments also reported zero accidents stemming from the bad weather.

“All we can do today is spread cinders around,” said Frank Browning, street commissioner for the City of West Frankfort. “There is no plowing to do. It is not built up enough to plow. When it starts snowing we will get the blades and we’ll go ahead and start plowing the snow. We are just trying to take care of the intersections where people have to start and stop. We hope to get it done without any crashes.”