COLLEGE PARK, Md. - This week's winter weather has caused dangerous driving conditions – after the storm. One of the biggest problems seen is drivers who have failed to clear off their cars and sending sheets of ice flying onto other vehicles on the roads.
Maryland State Police said troopers at their College Park barracks have received at least 20 reports of vehicles being damaged over the last few days because of this problem. Three people have sustained eye injuries from shards of glass from their windshields after being hit from flying ice debris.
Larry Slagle, a commercial driver and volunteer firefighter from Chestertown, Maryland, said his windshield was shattered from flying ice from another vehicle on Wednesday as he was leaving Baltimore driving home on southbound Interstate 95.
"My only option was to try to steer as far to the left side of the lane towards the truck as I could," he recalled. "Unfortunately, it nailed me on the right side of the windshield and went off like a cannon, and I felt flying glass shards hit me in the face. Thankfully I did not get any glass in my eye."
"People failed to clean up their cars properly, and as a result, as they are going 60 miles an hour, the wind would catch underneath the ice on the hood and the roof – that ice would become a flying projectile and then the end result was it would strike other vehicles causing damage," said Maryland State Police 1st Sgt. John Pietanza.
Police said in the state of Maryland, drivers have a responsibility to clean off their cars properly because it is part of driving safely on the roads. If they don't, drivers can be ticketed and charged with negligent driving.
Source: Maryland State Police: Multiple drivers injured from flying ice off other uncleaned vehicles
No comments:
Post a Comment