Bad Forecast Leads to Icy Roads
When weather forecasters predicted only a quarter-inch of snow for the city of Indianapolis yesterday, the city immediately began preparations by salting the roads to deal with the expected amount of snowfall. Unfortunately, the forecast was slightly off and the city got four times the amount of snow it was expecting, which rendered its pre-treatment efforts useless and led to virtually every road in the Indianapolis area being covered with ice and extremely slick, causing a multitude of wrecks and horrific traffic conditions. With the roads already being iced over, it was too late for the road crews to do very much about it and they simply had to wait until the temperatures warmed up and the ice melted before they could begin to properly salt the roads again.
Drivers in Tennessee (and everywhere else) should always be wary that roads and bridges can ice over quickly and create impassable and dangerous conditions. While main highways and roadways are usually pretreated when there is adequate advance notice of the conditions, such is not always the case.
Drivers should not assume that even the most frequently traveled roadways will be safe for traveling at normal speeds in wintry conditions. In fact, failing to account for adverse weather conditions, even if you expect the road to be properly pre-treated for driving, can constitute negligence in Tennessee if it amounts to driving in an unreasonable manner on a dangerous road. A good rule of thumb for driving on ice is simply not to do it. However, since patches of ice can sometimes be impossible to detect or are unavoidable, it is best when driving in such conditions to travel at a considerably reduced rate of speed and avoid trying to traverse or descend any steep hills or navigate any winding back roads which may be completely iced over. Taking these simple precautions may substantially reduce the odds that a driver will find themselves involved in an accident and a Sevierville personal injury lawsuit.
Source: http://www.indystar.com/article/20091207/NEWS/912070362/1001/NEWS
