Slippery Slope

One winter snowy and icy night in one of my jurisdictions I was dispatched to a non-injury car accident.  When I arrived at the scene, I observed a car had struck a power pole that was approximately one foot from the curb. The car had front-end damage and the pole was leaning down with power lines within reach and hanging slightly over the street causing a traffic hazard. I requested my dispatcher contact the power company to repair the pole and a wrecker company to tow the vehicle that was not drivable.

I talked with the driver of the damaged vehicle and was told he lost control coming down the bridge when the car started to slide. He said he tried to turn the car or stop the car, but could not and continued to slide down the bridge. The driver further stated his family recently moved to this state and had previously lived in a warm climate where he had never driven in snow and ice.  The wrecker arrived and towed the vehicle off.

While I was talking with the driver I observed several cars come down the bridge, they were driving slowly and I could see them gently pumping the brakes.  The cars were slipping and sliding, but none lost control. The bridge looked very slippery.

Almost simultaneously with the arrival of the wrecker, the Power Company repair truck arrived. To utilize the cherry picker on the truck the driver needed to obstruct a large portion of the street at the bottom of the bridge. I parked my patrol car in front of the repair truck with my overhead lights activated to warn drivers coming over and down the bridge of the hazard.  Several cars came down slipping and sliding a little bit, but remained under control.  I was standing outside my vehicle trying to direct traffic when suddenly I noticed a car coming down the bridge appearing that the driver had applied the brakes causing the wheels to lock and was sliding down the bridge out of control.  The sliding vehicle appeared to be coming right at me with the driver holding their arms up in the air in fright. I jumped up and over the hood of my car out of the way of both vehicles. I didn’t want to get squashed between the oncoming car and my patrol car and I didn’t want to get squashed between my patrol car and the power company truck.

At the last second while still sliding downhill out of control, the sliding vehicle veered to the left just missing my patrol car by about 10-12 inches.  This driver too said they had just recently moved to the area and had never driven on snow and ice.

Fortunately, the repairman finished repairing the power pole and lines shortly and I could go back to driving the streets where it was safer.

I really have no kernels of alleged wisdom to share or questions to ask, but I thought this was a cute story. To this day I do not recall ever moving that fast again. I almost felt like a super hero leaping over cars and all.  I was also younger in my early years of my law enforcement career.

Until tomorrow,

Sally S