December 18, 2010 in News, City

New snow brings traffic challenges

• Print
• Email
• Share

Roads became slick, leaving local law enforcement to deal with numerous slide-offs and collisions.

The Spokane Police Department said they responded to 85 collisions between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday due to slick roads.

“Citizens are cautioned to use extreme care while driving,” an SPD news release said. “Drivers need to allow extra distance for stops and even driving the speed limit is too fast for the current conditions.”

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said they had reports of 78 accidents in the county from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. “It’s slippery,” said Sgt. Dave Reagan in a news release. “Slow down. Please.”

“Today, we’ve probably had about 65,” a Washington State Patrol dispatcher said of slide-offs in this district, which covers seven counties. “Most of them were earlier in the day, around 10:30.”

That figure included a pile-up of about 15 cars near the Argonne Road exit on westbound Interstate 90 that slowed traffic to a crawl around 10:45 a.m.

“Luckily, it was all non-injury,” the dispatcher said.

The Idaho State Police in North Idaho saw 24 property damage crashes, 11 slide-offs and two injury accidents as of Saturday evening, a dispatcher said.

Her advice to drivers braving the wintry weather: “Slow down.”

In Whitman County, the roads were somewhat slick Saturday, a dispatcher said, but there had not been many slide-offs.

“It’s really not that bad,” the dispatcher said. “Everyone mostly managed to stay on the roads.”

However, two drivers were taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for injuries they sustained in a collision about 10 a.m. Saturday on Highway 195 between Colfax and Pullman.

Police say Narinder Kaur, 47, was driving her Toyota Rav4 too fast for conditions when she crossed the centerline into the southbound lane and struck Jay T. Cady, 54, who was driving a Subaru Outback. Kaur was in in critical condition and Cady was listed in stable condition Saturday evening.

More snow is expected as a series of small systems pass over the area this week, but precipitation will turn to rain and snow will melt as temperatures rise later in the week, according to the National Weather Service.

A system similar to the one that passed through Saturday will likely bring an inch or two of snow Monday morning. Snow is also likely Wednesday and Thursday night, but is expected to turn to rain as temperatures warm slightly on Friday. Similar weather likely will be seen in Coeur d’Alene, with snow expected Sunday night, Monday and Thursday night, with temperatures warming slightly Friday.

“Right now it doesn’t look like as strong a warm-up as we saw with the last melt,” said Ron Miller, a meteorologist with the weather service in Spokane.

He said that despite the rising temperatures, there is still a chance of a white Christmas.

“We could hold on to some of that snow, even though some of it will melt by Christmas,” he said.

The weather service has issued a winter weather advisory for areas in southeastern Washington and Idaho’s central Panhandle mountains, where there is a potential for a band of heavier snow today and Monday as a low-pressure system moves across the area. The greatest threat for heavy snow will be on the Palouse.

Eight comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  Ed Byrnes on December 18 at 8:51 p.m.

  Roads became slick? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to report that Spokane as a municipality allowed the roads to become dangerously slick?

  I have spent the last week in Utah and it has been snowing here, enough for great powder skiing at Alta. Municipalities across our country deal with a couple inches of snow quite effectively so the problem is municipal inepitude, plain and simple.

  I am not complaining about the snow since I love it and know how to drive safely in it. As for our municipal government……

• 

  reservedparking on December 18 at 9:30 p.m.

  Wow. It snows here, just about every winter. What a concept.
  You would think that drivers could remember how to drive on slick roads each winter. Get a clue, people! Equip your cars with adequate tires! Remember how to drive in this weather! Do it right, or stay home/walk/take the bus! Leave the driving to those of us who know how!

• 

  ZagChuck on December 18 at 9:42 p.m.

  Driving in Spokane in the winter is the equivalent of going to a bar on Saturday night and staying sober. In both cases you can relax and laugh at the really stupid people.

• 

  west on December 18 at 10:07 p.m.

  Another lazy job by city..26 degrees and no de icer etc sand etc…on Freya and Thor..Verner’s bunch are hypocritical, arrogant self serving employees, they can’t wait to get their golden pensions and healthcare for life.

• 

  jddavis on December 18 at 10:20 p.m.

  Maybe if the fine for driving too fast for conditions were raised to at least $2000, it might provide an incentive for some over confident/inexperienced drivers to pay attention to conditions. To be objective, ticket everyone who slides off the roads, hits the jersey-barriers on I-90, or causes an accident.

• 

  PlanB on December 18 at 10:22 p.m.

  All too often it seems like a few days notice isn’t enough for the city to get it’s act together and do something. Ample notice, but no action.

  I realize it’s tough to make everyone happy. Yet I’ve seen them applying de-icer on clear roads when there is no precipitation whatsoever and none in the immediate forecast. Two years ago, they plowed my street at least two times needlessly when there had not be any new snow and none for the rest of the season.

  Seems like they need months to make a decision, at which point any decision is wrong.

• 

  monkeyman on December 18 at 10:38 p.m.

  @jddavis at 10:20 p.m. Dec 18:
  “To be objective, ticket everyone who slides off the roads, hits the jersey-barriers on I-90, or causes an accident.”

  …don’t they already pay via repair/insurance costs etc., in addition to any injuries sustained?

• 

  jddavis on December 19 at 3:51 a.m.

  They do monkeyman; what I am suggesting is raising the fine from what it is now. Sure most end up paying an insurance deductable and higher premiums, but that isn’t enough motivation to change driving behaviors for some. The risk of injury obviously isn’t foremost on their minds…