Over 180 accidents on area roads

Laura Drake, Ottawa Citizen

Slippery, slushy conditions made for dangerous roads on Monday, with 187 accidents reported in Eastern Ontario - far more than on a usual winter day, according to the Ontario Provincial Police.

"It never ceases to amaze me," said OPP Acting Sgt. Chris Watkins of the fact that the number of accidents goes up every time the weather turns foul.

Luckily, none of the accidents caused more than minor injuries. However, Acting Sgt. Watkins stressed the need for people to change their driving habits when the roads are wet.

"People need to slow down, that's really the key," he said. "I've investigated a lot of accidents and in poor weather, it's just people driving too fast for the road conditions."

The snowfall should end at around midnight on Monday, according to Environment Canada. Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to be relatively clear, but snow is back in the forecast for Thursday and Friday.

Source-http://www.canada.com

Road accidents claim nine lives

Eight people, including a 2-year-old boy, have died in an accident involving four vehicles on the N12.

According to Joburg metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar, the driver of a Mazda 3 travelling east along the N12 lost control just before the Golden Highway off-ramp just before 2pm on Saturday.

The car smashed into a truck before colliding head-on with a taxi before hitting a Ford Bantam.

Minnaar said four of the Mazda 3's passengers, along with the taxi driver and three of his passengers, including a 2-year-old boy, died in the crash.

According to Netcare 911 spokesperson Nick Dollman, firefighters had to use the jaws of life to free several of the dead and injured from the wreckages. Paramedics meanwhile attended to 20 patients, airlifting one to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital.

By Laura Lopez Gonzalez

Source-http://www.iol.co.za

Multiple accidents slow traffic in Putnam County

WINFIELD, W.Va. -- Two serious vehicle accidents caused problems Thursday for motorists in Putnam County.

The first accident happened about 7 a.m. on U.S. 35. near American Electric Power's John Amos Plant. The dispatcher described it as a head-on, two-vehicle collision. Two patients were transported to hospitals in Charleston.

U.S. 35 was closed for a time as a result of the accident.

The second occurred about 7:30 a.m. at the Winfield exit of Interstate 64. A 911 dispatcher said a motorist reported that a vehicle rolled over on W.Va. 34 as it turned on to westbound Interstate 64.

Source-http://www.herald-dispatch.com

Jan 10, 2008 @ 11:23 PM

The Herald-Dispatch

Three City Buses Involved In Accidents At Brooklyn Intersection

At least 14 people, including a bus driver, were injured Wednesday morning when two city buses collided in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

Police say a B-44 bus was about to go through the intersection of Empire Boulevard and New York Avenue around 6:30 a.m. when it clipped another B-44 bus from behind. The first bus then veered across the intersection and knocked over a traffic light and a small tree.

Ten patients were taken to Kings County Hospital and four were taken to Brookdale Hospital. Five people are said to be in serious, but stable condition. The remaining passengers suffered just minor injuries.

The driver was pinned behind the wheel.

"The rescue units on the scene from fire rescue and police emergency services used a tool to get him out and other power tools to remove him,” said EMS Deputy Chief Howard Sickles.

EMS officials are not sure what caused the accident.

A few hours later, at around 10 a.m., a third bus – a B-43 – rear-ended a car, knocking it straight into the same intersection. The driver of the car was taken to Kings County Hospital as a precaution.

"I stopped at the light, for the red light, and I got rear-ended, right in front of this accident," said the driver.

Workers are on the scene trying to restore the knocked down traffic light at an intersection some say is notoriously dangerous.

"I don't know why, but for the past few years, this place, this intersection has a lot of accidents," said Robert Francis, a local gas station attendant. "Well for the past month, two or three accidents."

New York City Transit is investigating both accidents.

Source-http://www.ny1.com

Icy roads result in more than 130 accidents

SAN JUAN COUNTY — Three straight days of snowy and icy roads have taken a toll on local drivers. As of Wednesday afternoon, 134 minor accidents were reported countywide.

Only 14 of those accidents had reported injuries, most of which did not even require a hospital visit via ambulance, said Daryl Branson, of the San Juan Communications Authority, which operates emergency dispatch.

"Most of these have been very minor accidents," he said.

In contrast, a clear-skied, three-day period may yield just 10 to 15 accidents, Branson said

"When it snows like this and the roads turn icy, it gets a little crazy," he said.

The icy conditions proved to be a hazard for more than just vehicles.

San Juan Regional Medical Center emergency room managers reported treating between 20 and 30 patients each day this week for injuries suffered after slipping on the ice, hospital spokesman Dennis Mathis said.

"Most of them were just talking about twisted ankles," Branson said of the 12 who needed an ambulance to get to the hospital. "There were a couple of people who hit their head, which can be serious injuries."

Since Monday, Farmington has received about 7 inches of snow, National Weather Service Meteorologist Brian Guyer said. That amount accounts for more than half of the area's yearly snowfall average of 12 inches.

But after Wednesday's afternoon snow, the area is expected to be clear through the rest of the weekend, Guyer said.

"I would expect a slow melting of the snow through the weekend, and probably by Monday, any locations that are in the sun won't have any snow on the ground anymore," Guyer said.

But the snow masked by shade will remain an ice hazard, he said.

"Those (icy) areas in the shade are just not going to warm up," Guyer said. "Those areas will stay slick if they haven't been treated."

Local officials still suggest drivers slow down and remain cautious on area roads.

source-http://www.daily-times.com
By James Monteleone The Daily Times

Bus crash kills 14 in China

A bus has plunged into a ravine in the mountainous south-west Chinese province of Yunnan, killing 14 people, Xinhua news agency reports.

The bus, with 20 people on board, veered off a highway in Maguan county on Wednesday afternoon. Six were injured.

"Fourteen people died at the scene. The injured have been rushed to a nearby hospital and are reportedly out of danger," Xinhua said.

China's roads are the deadliest in the world, with overtaking on blind mountain corners common. Road accidents kill about 100,000 people a year.

Source http://www.abc.net.au- Reuters

Fog Causes 70-Car Pileup in Fla 4 Dead

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — About 70 vehicles crashed on an interstate blanketed by fog and smoke from a brush fire early Wednesday, killing four people, authorities said.

Nearly 15 miles of Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando was closed by several crashes, including the pileup. Aerial footage in the early morning showed the soupy mix of fog and smoke covering the landscape for miles and giving the sky an eerie golden color.

The poor visibility forced rescuers to walk along the closed interstate checking individual vehicles for injured motorists, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Larry Coggins said. The conditions cleared in late morning, showing mangled, charred trucks and cars pinned underneath some tractor-trailers.

Workers were still trying to rescue one man pinned beneath an overturned truck. There is no estimate on when I-4, the main east-west artery for central Florida, will reopen.

Coggins said 38 people were injured, five seriously.

Tractor-trailers overturned on the roadway, including a tanker. At least six of them burned completely.

"Everything came to a halt," Robert Ellison, who was driving east on the highway about 6 a.m., told The Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV. "You can't see your hand in front of your face."

One of the first people involved in the accident was a sheriff's deputy, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. The deputy told Judd that conditions on the road worsened suddenly. "'It was clear, it was a little foggy, then it was total darkness,'" Judd recounted the deputy saying.

The sheriff said the deputy was shaken up but helped move people to safety as vehicles continued to crash — the sounds of metal grinding and gnashing in the darkness.

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash and the role of smoke from the fire, which started as a controlled burn and grew out of control.

The fog was a contributing factor to the crashes, Coggins said, but he downplayed the smoke as a cause, saying deputies who were patrolling the area earlier Wednesday morning reported smoke was not an issue.

Since Tuesday, the brush fire has charred 400 acres. It is burning roughly half a mile from the highway and is 90 percent contained, Division of Forestry spokeswoman Chris Kintner said.
Forestry workers notified the highway patrol that smoke from the blaze could mix with fog, she said. Warnings signs were also placed on the interstate, but Kintner said she didn't know whether the signs were lit.


Source:The Associated Press