US
Icy Roads Leads To 65 car pileup in MA
CHRISTINE PETERSON/WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE/AP
A tractor trailer is shown Sunday pinning a red car with Ohio plates against the center barrier on Interstate 290 in Worcester, Mass.
Worcester, Massachusetts – Freezing weather was blamed for a 65 vehicle pileup that closed both directions of interstate 290 in this bustling city of 181,000 located 40 miles west of Boston yesterday. Police on the scene describe a stretch of road that was like an ice skating rink offering vehicles little to no traction.
The accident began at approximately 7:00AM Sunday morning and soon involved dozens of cars. The interstate wasn’t reopened until 11:45AM. As many as 40 people were taken to the hospital for injuries with two of them suffering serious wounds.
Sergeant Stephen Marsh compared the road to a sheet of ice.
“It was like if you went skating with your kids. It was that bad,” he told The Boston Globe.
A police officer who was on the scene to provide assistance had her car rear-ended due to the lack of traction. She quickly returned to her car to avoid being slammed into by oncoming cards.
Michael Verseckes, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation affirmed that road crews were out in force to salt roads and remove other hazards and impediments to driving, but the weather quickly soured making their efforts inadequate.
“It came up suddenly and quickly and the number of crews we had just wasn’t enough,” he told The Telegram & Gazette.
The old adage from the defensive driving course continues to prove timely. That advice is contained in a simple question a driver should ask themselves before driving in inclement weather and that is: “Do I really need to be driving at this time?” As for the ice, today’s warmer weather will eliminate the icy road conditions for now.
According to Weather.Com, the U.S. National Weather Service issued a freezing rain advisory through 11 a.m. Sunday for much of western and central Massachusetts, northeast Connecticut and northwest Rhode Island. Police advised motorists returning home from the Thanksgiving holiday to wait until state highway crews treated the roads.
