SALEM, Va. – The recent winter storm brought freezing temperatures, ice, and snow, leading to hundreds of crashes across the Commonwealth. Virginia State Police are urging drivers to plan ahead as another storm looms this weekend.
From Sunday to Tuesday, Virginia State Police investigated just over 860 crashes throughout the state. In southwest Virginia, the Salem Division 6 headquarters reported a significant number of incidents.
“There were about 204 crashes total in our 14 counties that we handle out here in our division,” said Sgt. Rick Garletts with the Virginia State Police.
Sgt. Garletts expressed surprise at the storm’s impact on the southside counties. “I think the big surprise to us was Martinsville and Danville were only supposed to get rain initially is what we thought but the winter storm hit there first it wasn’t rain itself it was actually a little bit of snow and ice which caused the largest number of wrecks in this division were down in Henry County, Patrick County, Floyd County and Pittsylvania County.”
Winter weather isn’t over yet. “Well, we are going to be fortunate this weekend as far as what we’ve seen this is going to be a snow event, the ice event makes the severity worse,” Garletts noted.
With more snowy conditions expected this weekend, the Virginia State Police are urging drivers to stay informed, stay safe, and avoid unnecessary travel. “Let’s not just go driving just to drive in the snow as it’s falling. You know, let’s not cause any additional problems just because you are cooped up at home and don’t like it.”
Preparation is key to staying safe on the roads. Garletts shared a recent incident: “A tractor-trailer broke down in the travel lane as it was climbing a hill that stopped everybody and the precipitation didn’t stop but nobody could move around it so we had to close down the interstate at the I-62 to detour traffic just so we could get the wreckers in there to pull the trucks up the hill, because once the truck gets stopped it’s not going to be able to get going again on a slick road.”
He also advised, “Let’s make sure you don’t let your gas tank get below a quarter of a tank because you might get stuck in that 10-mile backup on the interstate and run out of gas which takes away from us getting the road back open cause we have to deal with other people stranded.”
Sgt. Garletts recommends keeping snacks, blankets, and other emergency items in your car if you must travel through the winter weather.