Photo by RR Best
Roads Turn Slick Causing Several Crashes
The roads around Sullivan turned treacherous early Thursday, January 14 with a rollover at Bethany and several cars left spinning due to the suddenly very slick surfaces.
Moultrie Chief Deputy Gary Carroll was on traffic patrol at 7 a.m. when he noticed the wet roadway surface had become glazed with frost, limiting traction.
For the next hour cars were turning over and flying from the roadway as drivers found that driving highway speed was a good way to skate from the pavement.
Carroll noted that within an hour the sheriff’s department received a dozen accident calls related to the suddenly slick roadway.
In Allenville a car careened off highway 121, ending up on Zach Helton’s front porch. The driver was uninjured but Helton’s porch lost a corner post.
At least two vehicles slid far enough from the roadway to land on the Illinois Central Railroad tracks, prompting the county to call railroad officials to delay train traffic until the vehicles could be removed.
The Bethany curve was the site where a Chevrolet Trailblazer encountered the frosty surface, resulting in the vehicle overturning.
Driver Marquita Thomas, 32, of Decatur and a passenger were transported to a Decatur hospital for observation.
“It was nuts for awhile,” Carroll said, noting he had to call in an officer to help with the accidents.
Illinois Department of Transportation spread salt immediately with the hopes that salt residue will reduce the frost issue risk during future mornings of unpredictable road surfaces.
