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Show Motorists ignore the icy grip of winter snow, fog conditions By GARY R. BLODGETT FARMINGTON The headline reads: 25-car 25-car pileup snarls traffic on 1-15. This is not uncommon on a wintery or foggy day, even in Utah's Davis County where motorists should be accustomed to hazardous driving conditions. But are they? "There's a lot of room for improvement," comments Lt. Gary Gunrud, commander of the Davis County Division of the Utah Highway Patrol. "Motorists should know something about ab-out winter driving, but sometimes you wonder." For example, an early morning snowstorm which left just a trace of snow on the highway high-way hit Davis County last week and within minutes there were more than a dozen wrecks, one involving nearly 25 vehicles in one major pileup. "Motorists are just not aware of what is going on in front of them and don't take the precautions necessary to avoid getting involved," in-volved," said Lt. Gunrud. "Too many motorists motor-ists travel too fast for existing conditions and then it's too late to avoid an accident." He emphasized that "it's not only excessive speed that kills or gets motorists involved in accidents, it's also the lack of awareness of what surrounds them and they are in an emergency situation before they realize what has happened." Lt. Gunrud, a veteran of years with the Utah Highway Patrol, has seen many serious accidents some of them fatal which "simply should not have happened if the motorists were more aware of existing driving conditions. "It's one thing to not be aware of hazardous road conditions such as black ice or isolated pockets of dense fog," he said. "But to know what the conditions are and still drive into the fog or slick areas at a speed not conducive to the conditions is something else." At the same time, he emphasized, it may be the erratic driving of one motorist that causes an accident which may involve several more "innocent" drivers. He said this is often the case where chain-reaction chain-reaction mishaps occur. Sometimes the accident acci-dent will block the entire lane of traffic causing unsuspecting motorists to pile into the wreckage wreck-age or spin out in an attempt to miss the accident acci-dent scene. In last week's storm-ravished accidents, snow began to fall about 5 a.m. and when the commuter rush hour began two hours later there was about an inch of snow on the high way. But that was enough to slicken 1-15 and U.S. 89 throughout much of the county. Again it was the county's "hot spot" for accidents that took its toll the intersection of U.S. 89 (Mountain Road) and 1-15. Several multi-car accidents were reported in the southbound south-bound lane. But on the flatland of 1-15 to the south from Farmington to Bountiful there were more accidents, including the aforementioned aforemen-tioned 25-vehicle smashup west of Centerville. It got so hectic at the height of the rush hour traffic that dispatchers were urged to send medical aid where needed and for motorists with fender-benders to exchange information and then file official police reports later. ' 'Motorists should be prepared for slick-road and foggy weather driving and take the necessary neces-sary precautions to avoid accidents," said Lt. Gunrud, who outlined a few guidelines for safer driving: 1. Account for hazardous conditions by allowing more distance between you and all other cars around you. Look for an "out" by knowing where other vehicles are in front, to the side and those approaching from the rear. 2. Reduce speed considerably even to a "7 crawl, if necessary to lessen the chance of an accident, or serious injury if an accident does occur. 3. When visibility is lowered for any reason , turn on headlights, not only to see but so that other vehicles can more easily see your vehicle. 4. Have good snow tires installed during the winter season to reduce skidding as well as for easier driving through snow. 5. Be prepared to "dig out" if you should become stalled. Carry extra clothing, water, food staples, shovel, flares, blankets, first aid kit, and other emergency supplies during the winter, especially when taking a trip away from home into sparsely populated areas. 6. When weather turns bad, or there are threats of storm, do not drive unless absolutely necessary. Allow plenty of "extra time" to get to your destination and do not "push your luck" take extra precautions instead. 7. Be certain that every occupant is securely strapped into their seat belts. 8. Beware of black ice caused by snow thawing thaw-ing on the side of the interstate highway or other major streets and freezing as it covers the highway. 9. Leave the left (fast) lane open for those motorists who refuse to slow down as they approach fog, slick roads or an accident scene. 10. Not only use common sense, but no more courteous than any other time when inclement weather exists, Lt. Gunrud urged. |
