Winter weather wreaks havoc on highways

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December 19, 2008

Jay Strickland The Commerce Journal Fri Dec 19, 2008, 04:39 PM CST

A large stretch of State Highway 24/50 was closed down for about three hours Monday night as a blast of winter weather iced bridges and caused multiple accidents on one length of road.

According to Commerce Police Chief Kerry Crews, the trouble started just before 5 p.m. Monday when a car slid off the icy bridge on Highway 24/50 just north of Commerce where the two highways split.

“While we were working that one, another vehicle came through, lost control, and slammed into one of our patrol cars — while the officer was in it,” Crews said. “Luckily nobody was hurt.”

Two more accidents happened at the same scene as emergency personnel struggled to contain the situation, according to Crews. There were also two accidents further south on 24/50 at the State Highway 11 overpass.

“At one point, they were working the wreck (at Highway 11) and another vehicle came sliding toward the first wreck and one of the drivers jumped over the guardrail to keep from being hit,” he said. “I believe he broke his arm from the fall.

“For about 2 1/2 to 3 hours we had that stretch of road from Highway 11 all the way to Benson Brothers (Wrecker Service) shut down until the city and TxDOT could get out there and sand down the icy spots.”

Several more accidents happened around the county throughout the night and continuing through Tuesday, according to Crews.

One took place on Highway 50 and CR 4809 near Ladonia around 7 p.m., Crews said. The driver of a small truck hit a patch of ice and struck a utility pole.

“The driver was not injured very much, but the passenger was at one time in critical condition,” he said.

Another happened later at Highway 24 and FM 904 when a vehicle slid off the road and struck something in the ditch.

Around 1 a.m. Tuesday, a man called in to say that he had been talking to his wife on the phone while she was driving and it sounded like she had a wreck. Emergency crews found the woman and an infant in a one-car rollover on CR 4603.

Another accident happened at 5:40 a.m. Tuesday on Highway 11 just south of Wolfe City, according to Crews. At 9:47 a.m., the same spot that started it all struck again with an accident at the spot where Highways 24 and 50 split.

At 10:37 a.m. another accident occurred on State Highway 224 at the Middle Sulphur River bridge. No injuries were reported. The final one came at the same spot around 2 p.m. Tuesday.

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