Dash cam captures frightening scene at intersection after snowstorm
Several close calls on snowy and icy roads highlight why drivers should slow down during bad weather.
First responders across the country have two simple words for those driving in wintry conditions: "SLOW DOWN!" Over the last few days and weeks, dashboard cameras have captured chilling footage of traffic accidents partly to blame on severe winter weather. Some local officials have taken to social media in an effort to implore drivers to take more caution when navigating roads that are impacted by snow and icy conditions.
Most importantly, no one was seriously hurt in the any of the reported accidents; a sheriff’s deputy in Dallas County, Iowa, suffered minor injuries as a result of the third crash. Weather is a major factor in injuries and deaths in Ameria. AccuWeather estimates 100,000 people are injured nationally due to weather, with 20 percent of the deaths in the U.S. due directly to weather.
In one of the clips seen above, a police officer in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, entered an intersection after the stoplight turned green. The driver of the car to the left noticed an oncoming semi truck going through the red light, but the officer's car drove forward an instant later and was struck on the driver’s side by the careening semi.
The officer was trapped initially inside the vehicle, the Ashwaubenon Public Safety wrote in a post on Facebook, but was ultimately able to exit the vehicle uninjured. Police cited the truck driver for "operating too fast for conditions," according to Ashwaubenon Public Safety, which later posted a photo of the police cruiser on Facebook, showing the significant damage the vehicle sustained in the wreck.
This Ashwaubenon patrol car was struck in the passenger's side during wintry conditions. (Facebook / Ashwaubenon Public Safety Office)
In another video caught by a dash cam this week, two Black Hawk County deputies are shown at the scene of a car that ran off the road and into a ditch on I-380 in Waterloo, Iowa, on Feb. 10. Another vehicle lost control, narrowly missed one patrol car then slammed into the other. The deputy was out of the car and in the ditch but was not injured nor was the driver.
But the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office used the near-miss to point out that it has been "inundated with accidents over the last few weeks and many of these accidents have been preventable, most attributable to excessive speed when considering weather and road conditions." In a post on Facebook, Sheriff Tony Thompson said, "Our best advice is not to travel when the road conditions deteriorate, if you must travel; we really need motorists to slow down."
And finally, a third harrowing video shows a sheriff’s deputy in Dallas County, Iowa, who was struck by a car speeding between a police cruiser and a fire truck while at the scene of a traffic accident in late January. The officer was knocked to the ground and suffered minor injuries. But as the sheriff’s office noted, it could have been “a whole lot worse.”
As the Ashwaubenon office wrote on Facebook, “This is a good reminder to drive within safe speeds so you are able to stop and/or avoid crashes when conditions deteriorate.”
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