INDIANAPOLIS – Monday afternoon’s wintry mix wreaked havoc on the roads, with commuters enduring slick conditions and vehicles crawling along area interstates.
Indiana State Police said there were more than 135 crashes in the Indianapolis area alone. Indianapolis Metropolitan police responded to their fair share of slide-offs and wipeouts on city streets.
The National Weather Service said the area received less than a half inch of snow. Some of it didn’t even stick, yet drivers encountered poor conditions and longer-than-normal commutes.
Even though accumulations were light, friction from traffic melted the snow, which then refroze due to sub-freezing temperatures.
Most drivers were surprised by the snowfall and slick roads in the afternoon and evening. It sounds like the weather also caught the Indiana Department of Transportation off-guard.
“Due to higher-than-forecast precipitation rates and accumulation amounts, INDOT was forced to react to roadway impacts during yesterday’s snow event,” the agency said in a statement. “As snow lingered, crews pivoted to utilizing rock salt in impacted areas mid-to-late afternoon and throughout the overnight hours.”
For the Indianapolis Department of Public Works, the story was much the same.
“Snowfall began at about 2:30 p.m. [Monday] and our crews were on the road around 3 p.m. treating the grounds for snow,” DPW said in a statement. “Our teams remained active during and after the entire snow event and took special care to address bridges and overpasses, which are notorious for icing over and becoming slicker than street ways.”
Richard Doyle, an instructor with AA Indiana Driving School, said he was shocked by the number of crashes on Monday. He believes drivers didn’t adjust to the conditions and simply went too fast.
He offered some advice for safe winter driving.
“Go real easy on the gas and the brake,” he said. “Don’t try to accelerate or brake hard. Always coast through a curve. Don’t try to accelerate or brake through a curve.”
Drivers should make sure to leave extra space between vehicles, Doyle said. He also offered some advice for inexperienced drivers.
“Young drivers will instinctively want to hit the brake, hit the brake. We just can’t do that,” he said. “You have to just coast and the car will come back under control.”
